It's a tough choice to recommend Brass Birmingham. The presentation of the game is very good, the artwork is very nice and the theme really works. There is a solid strategy game here, but one that lasts only a few minutes each game. The game is 16 to 20 rounds and no more.

I have found it difficult to understand how the scoring system works and to be honest, I am still struggling to beat the AI on easy mode after playing for five hours. The rules are actually quite simple but connecting up a canal network and making it high-scoring is confusing. The tutorial doesn't go into enough detail. I have even sought out the board-game instructions online to try and make sense of it.

This is like a casual strategy game in every regard apart from the difficulty level. I am sure after multiple goes it becomes easy to beat the AI but not straight away. Essentially, you need a deep understanding of the points system to know whether your choices are good or not. For a casual game, you might not have the patience to persevere. One more grievance is the lack of local multi-player.

If it sounds like I haven't enjoyed playing Brass Birmingham, that's not the case. It is one of those challenging games that keeps you coming back for one more go. At least unlike many other strategy games, making bad decisions is only a short term problem because the game is over almost as it has started. I am tempted to buy the board game and I can imagine it takes far longer to play and involves some hilarious disputes over the rules and totting-up the scores.

It's a tough choice to recommend Brass Birmingham. The presentation of the game is very good, the artwork is very nice and the theme really works. There is a solid strategy game here, but one that lasts only a few minutes each game. The game is 16 to 20 rounds and no more. I have found it difficult to understand how the scoring system works and to be honest, I am still struggling to beat the AI on easy mode after playing for five hours. The rules are actually quite simple but connecting up a canal network and making it high-scoring is confusing. The tutorial doesn't go into enough detail. I have even sought out the board-game instructions online to try and make sense of it. This is like a casual strategy game in every regard apart from the difficulty level. I am sure after multiple goes it becomes easy to beat the AI but not straight away. Essentially, you need a deep understanding of the points system to know whether your choices are good or not. For a casual game, you might not have the patience to persevere. One more grievance is the lack of local multi-player. If it sounds like I haven't enjoyed playing Brass Birmingham, that's not the case. It is one of those challenging games that keeps you coming back for one more go. At least unlike many other strategy games, making bad decisions is only a short term problem because the game is over almost as it has started. I am tempted to buy the board game and I can imagine it takes far longer to play and involves some hilarious disputes over the rules and totting-up the scores.