Brass: Birmingham

Brass: Birmingham rewards people who enjoy planning several turns ahead, reading an economy, and squeezing value out of rail links, coal, iron, and industry builds. By our assessment, it is one of the sharpest modern economic strategy games because every action has weight and the network of choices stays tight from start to finish. The downside is that it is not a relaxed table game: the rules and the timing of your moves demand attention, and a careless turn can leave you behind. In practice it feels exact and competitive, with little waste and a lot of pressure to adapt to what the map and the market are doing. It sits high in the heavy strategy field, where it is often held up as a benchmark rather than a curiosity. Anyone who wants a serious economic puzzle should look at it; anyone wanting something casual and breezy probably should not.