Brass Fan Site

Game Components

• 1 Gameboard
• 1 Rulebook
• 4 Counter sheets
• 8 Player wooden discs
• 66 Cards
• 30 Black coal cubes
• 25 Orange iron cubes
• 1 Black marker
• 100 Plastic coins
• 7 Plastic storage bags
• 12 Distant Market tiles
• Each player should have:
  • 12 Cotton Mill counters
  • 8 Port counters
  • 7 Coal Mine counters
  • 6 Shipyards counters
  • 4 Iron Foundry counters
  • 14 Canal/Rail counters
  • 2 Victory Point counters
  • 2 Wooden discs

Setup

Each player should select a set of counters and wooden discs. Each player should place one of their wooden discs on the £0 space of the Income/VP track.

You should keep your Victory Point (VP) counters to one side as they will not be needed until the end of the first period. …

Build Industry

To be able to build an Industry counter in a particular location you must:

• a) have played a card that allows you to build there,
• b) match the symbol in the space with the Industry counter you intend to build,
• c) be able to move coal to that location if needed,
• d) take an iron cube if needed,
• e) be able to pay the full amount for the counter, which may include additional costs for taking cubes from one of the Demand tracks.

Playing The Right Card

There are two types of cards, Location cards and Industry cards. Location card allows you to build at that location. …

The part of the game that you will find hardest to understand is that concerned with what industries you can build and where you can build them. Once you have mastered this part of the game the rest is relatively simple. I wish there was a quick way to make the rules easier to understand, but I've not come up with one yet. The big problem is that you have to keep a number of factors in mind when building.

You need to make sure the card you play will allow you to build in your intended location. This means making sure the symbols on the card, the counter, and the space are all the same. Industry cards are more complicated to use than Location cards, as you need to trace a connection to one of your other counters via your own canal/rail links. What then makes things doubly confusing is the fact that you may or may not need coal to build. Coal has to be shipped along canals/rails, which means you need to plan carefully. …