How to Play Brass Birmingham Rules if you hate rulebooks

I hate reading rulebooks and compiled this How to Play Brass Birmingham rules to help get your game started quickly with minimal hassle.
If you are looking for an overview, click here to get a quick summary of the gameplay, game mechanics, videos and find out what makes the game fun and suitable for you.

What is the goal?

The game is set during the Industrial Revolution and played over 2 eras:

• the Canal Era (1770-1830) and
• the Rail Era (1830-1870).

Players take on the role of Entrepreneurs and complete actions and compete to gain the most for Victory Points (VPs) by the end of the Rail Era.

Game setup

Board Setup

1. Place the board on either the day or night side.
2. If there are less than 4 players, remove all cards and Merchant tiles
   that shows a player count (displayed on bottom right corner) greater than your number of players,
3. Take the Wild Location (see C) and Wild Industry (see D) cards and place face up on 2 of the Card Draw Areas
4. Form the draw deck by shuffling remaining cards and placing them face down on the remaining Card Draw Area (see E) 
5. Shuffle remaining Merchant tiles, and place 1 (face up) on each of the
   Merchant spaces marked with the number of players in your game (see F),
   located near the edges of the board.
6. Place 1 beer barrel on each beer barrel space beside a (non-blank) Merchant tile (see I).
7. Place 1 black cube on each Coal Market space (see J), leaving 1 of the £1 spaces open.
8. Place 1 orange cube on each Iron Market space (see K) , leaving both of the £1 spaces open.
9. Place the remaining cubes and beer barrels beside the board; this is the General Supply. Note: The General Supply is limitless. If you need more of a resource, represent it with something else.
10. Place the money beside the board; this is the Bank.

Location Cards:

2 players:
Blue and Teal coloured Location cards are not in the Draw Deck.
3 players:
Teal coloured Location cards are not in the Draw Deck.
4 players:
All Location cards in are in the Draw Deck.

Player Area Setup

1. Take a Player Mat.
2. Take £17 from the Bank.
3. Choose a coloured Character tile.
4. Place the matching coloured Link tiles in your player area.
5. Stack the matching coloured Industry tiles (consisting of Cotton Mills, Coal Mines, Iron Works, Manufacturers, Potteries, and Breweries) on their appropriate Player Mat Slots (place the blacktop half side face down).
6. Place your Victory Point (VP) Marker on the Progress Tracker “0” space.
7. Place your Income Marker on the Progress Track “10” space.
8. Draw 8 cards from the Draw Deck to make your hand. Do not reveal to other players.
9. Draw 1 additional card from the Draw Deck and place it face down
   in your player area to form your Discard Pile.
10. After all players player areas are set up, shuffle all players’ Character tiles and place in random order on the Turn Order Track

Gameplay

The game is played over 2 eras: the Canal Era and the Rail Era.

Rounds

• Each era consists of rounds until both the Draw Deck and players’ Hands are exhausted.
• Number of rounds per era:
  • 4-player game: 8 rounds
  • 3-player game: 9 rounds
  • 2-player game: 10 rounds
• Turn order follows the Character tiles on the Turn Order Track.

Player Turns

• Each turn: Perform 2 actions (except 1 action in the first round of the Canal Era).
• For each action, discard a card from your Hand to your Discard Pile.
  • Exception: Wild cards go back to the Card Draw Areas.
• After actions, refill your Hand to 8 cards from the Draw Deck.
• Money spent during your turn is placed on your Character tile on the Turn Order Track.
• When the Draw Deck is exhausted, your Hand decreases each round until empty.

List of Actions

For each action, you may choose to perform one of the following (you may perform the same action twice):

• Build: Place an Industry tile on the board, pay the cost, and use any required coal/iron. Requires a specific card.
• Network: Expand your canal or rail network by adding Link tiles to the board.
• Develop: Remove Industry tiles from your Player Mat to access higher-level industries.
• Sell: Flip Cotton Mill, Manufacturer, and/or Pottery tiles by selling to a Merchant, consuming beer if necessary.
• Loan: Take a £30 loan from the Bank and move your Income Marker 3 income levels back.
• Scout: Discard 2 cards (plus the card for the action) to get 1 Wild Industry and 1 Wild Location card. Not allowed if you already have a Wild card.
• Passing: Choose to pass instead of performing an action, but still discard a card for each action passed.
• Spending Money: Place spent money on your Character tile on the Turn Order Track to determine turn order for the next round.

End of Round

Determine Turn Order

• Rearrange Character tiles on the Turn Order Track.
  • Player who spent the least money goes first next round.
  • Player who spent the most money goes last.
  • If players spent equal amounts, their turn order remains the same.
• Reset Money: Move all money from Character tiles back to the Bank, resetting the money spent for the next round.

Take Income

• Collect Income: Take money from the Bank equal to your income level.
• Negative Income: If your income level is negative, pay that amount to the Bank.
  • Shortfall:
    • Remove Industry tiles (not Link tiles) from the board to cover the shortfall, each worth half its cost (rounded down).
    • Removed tiles are out of the game, and you keep any excess money.
    • If you can’t cover the shortfall, lose 1 VP for each £1 short.
• End of Game Exception: Income is not collected at the end of the final round of the game.

End of Canal & Rail Era

• End of Era: Each era ends when all players use their final cards.
• Score Canal/Rail Links:
  • Score 1 VP per adjacent location for each Link tile.
  • Remove Link tiles after scoring.
• Score Flipped Industry Tiles:
  • Score VPs shown on flipped Industry tiles.
  • Unflipped Industry tiles do not score.
  • If scoring exceeds 100 VPs, start another loop on the Progress Track.

End of Canal Era

• Remove Obsolete Industries:
  • Remove all level 1 Industry tiles from the board and return them to the box.
  • Level 2+ Industry tiles remain.
• Reset Merchant Beer: Place 1 beer barrel on each empty beer barrel space beside a (non-blank) Merchant tile.
• Shuffle Draw Deck:
  • Shuffle all players’ Discard Piles together and place face down on the Card Draw Area.
  • Ensure the bottom card of each Discard Pile is turned over before shuffling.
• Draw New Hands: Each player draws 8 cards from the newly shuffled Draw Deck.

Winning the Game

• Determine Winner: Player with the most VPs after Rail Era scoring wins.
• Tiebreakers:
  • First by highest income.
  • Then by most money remaining.
  • If still tied, those players draw.

Gameplay Concepts

Flipping Industry Tiles

Increasing your Income

• Trigger: Flipping one of your Industry tiles.
• Action: Advance your Income Marker on the Progress Track by the indicated number of spaces.
• Limit: Your income level cannot exceed level 30.

Your Network

A location is part of your network if:

• It contains one or more of your Industry tiles.
• It is adjacent to one or more of your Link tiles.

Connected Locations

Two locations are connected if a continuous path of Link tiles (regardless of ownership) can be traced between them.

Consuming Coal

Purpose: Required for building rail Links and certain Industry tiles.
Connection Requirement: The rail Link or Industry tile must be connected to a coal source after placement.

Sources:

• Primary: Closest connected unflipped Coal Mine (free).
• Secondary: Coal Market (paid) if not connected to an unflipped mine. Requires connection to a port icon.

Coal Market Pricing: Starts at the cheapest price, increasing with each purchase. If empty, coal costs £8.Consumed Coal: Returned to the General Supply.

Consuming Iron

Purpose: Required for the Develop action and building certain Industry tiles.
Connection Requirement: None; an Industry tile does not need to be connected to an Iron Works.

Sources:

• Primary: Any unflipped Iron Works (free). Multiple iron can be taken from different Iron Works.
• Secondary: Iron Market (paid) if no unflipped Iron Works are available.

Iron Market Pricing: Starts at the cheapest price, increasing with each purchase. If empty, iron costs £6.Consumed Iron: Returned to the General Supply.

Consuming Beer

• Triggers: Selling cotton, manufactured goods, pottery; or performing the Network action during the Rail Era.
• Amount: Indicated in the top right corner of the Industry tile.
• Sources:
  • Your unflipped Breweries (no connection required).
  • Opponent’s unflipped Brewery (connected to the location).
  • Space beside a Merchant tile you’re selling to.
• Multiple Barrels: Each beer can be taken from a different source.
• Consumed Beer: Returned to the General Supply.