Martin Wallace's Brass: exhibition game

[wetbandit]

Ok, I think I've got a handle on this (as much as I can for not having played before). Just to confirm something OH said, should we play open face for the first round? I don't mind not playing open face, in fact, getting thrashed is a good learning experience.

[wetbandit]

So I'll put my cards and actions here in case we are playing open, so we can get the game moving. If I blunder on the first turn, it just means I could blunder on every turn!

Your cards are: Barrow – In – Furness, Blackburn, Blackburn, Manchester, Cotton Mill, Port, Shipyard, Shipyard.

Reading different strategies suggests that development early is pretty key, and those cotton mills are pretty juicy, so let's ignore those mills (gotta zag when they think you're gonna zig) but develop coal. Coal can generate a big return on cash and possibly save actions on taking loans. Iron can pick up the slack if the coal market bottoms out. Yes, I could have and expect to have my industries bought at some point by the experienced guys.

So I'll develop a coal and iron, pushing both to L2. Iron is cheap now and maybe this will make the cotton mill strategies a bit more painful to pursue.

Discarding B-i-F (because it can't be played in the canal period) and the duplicate Blackburn card (only one industry in a location in canal period) because both are useless.

And as I play, the interface is initially confusing. You have to submit the first development, and then the next screen will prompt you for the second. And I didn't need to discard the second card as I only played one card this turn.

OH and Bacchus thanks for the detailed writeups. They are excellent! Turn is played.[/spoiler]

[Cheater Hater]

Turn played, I'll do my "report" soon

Edit: Report here--since we're open I'll leave it out

For reference, along with the great writeups (though Old Harry's images appear to have broken), I looked up the rules here (what came up first on Google--it seems accurate, though it hid the fact that canals/rails are worth VP) and a basic list of tips here (which seems to be covering most of the stuff OH/Bacchus covered--develop rather than building L1 industries, don't build canals, actions are more important than money).

I went Develop for my first turn obviously, with Cotton->Cotton--I feel like just building an L2 Cotton Mill seems like a decent T2 play, though I don't know where I should put it--I guess if we assume wetbandit is going L2 Coal Mine, L2 Ironworks to refresh the iron demand track (and immediately flip his Ironworks), I would have to put my Cotton Mill in that city. The only question is how I would get my cotton sold to replenish my income--even in the best case (Manchester) it takes 3 low-quality actions to get my cotton sold (Canal: Manchester->W&R, L1 Port in W&R, sell Cotton). Is it worth it just to take some of the uncertainty out of the Distant Market? I'm not sure. Another possibility is go develop->build a canal to a natural port (Yorkshire->Colne, Yorkshire->Rochdale, or Macclesfield->The Midlands--though can I even build a canal when I don't have any industries out yet?), then next turn going L2 Cotton Mill, sell Cotton. This means I don't have to build a port myself while still selling on T3 (earliest I could do so on the other path), but it means my network starts in the corner and my hand sucks in terms of Location cards (Lancaster, Liverpool, Liverpool, Cotton Mill, Cotton Mill, Coal Mine, Iron Works, Birkenhead).

Another question: how much should I be developing--should I even go into negative income just so I can leech off other people building canals for me? The two main sources of income at least to start are flipping an Ironworks to fill the iron demand track and flipping a Cotton Mill to sell to the Distant Market--both of those are near-instantaneous. If other people are filling the Iron demand track for you, you might be able to only build a couple industries, but have mostly L3s on your stack and in play.

[Old Harry]

Yeah, let's play totally open, that way we can point out the amazing stuff you could have done :P. I think you're right that zigging when others zag is the key here, so that's an excellent start!

My cards are Lancaster, Liverpool, Macclesfield, Manchester, Oldham, Preston, Rochdale, Port.

I like that spread of cards right now, I'll try to get L2 industries in Manchester, Rochdale and Preston in the canal phase so that I'm not badly limited at the start of the rail phase. To try and remember how the game works I've been playing against AIs who like building Ports, so I've been running up the Cotton Mill line as fast as possible and using theirs when they leave them vulnerable. I wonder if I'll get the chance to do that here?

Anyway I developed a coal mine and a cotton mill with the port card.

[Bacchus]

OK, so for the first three actions we had three develops, which is totally normal, but now iron is expensive, in fact almost as expensive as it will ever be, as prices never go above £5, so I won't be developing yet.

Your cards are: Colne, Fleetwood, Lancaster, Macclesfield, Wigan, Coal Mine, Coal Mine, Iron Works.

Urgh. I have three cards which can only be used for coal, and two players have already developed coal. Oh well. Fleetwood is a junk card to be used for loans/links/development. Having the iron works is nice. Macclesfield and Colne suggest a very immediate strategy -- the so-called cotton rush. Five actions to build two plants, two canals and sell. So let's start on that by going into Colne.

[wetbandit]

Let's see how poorly I can bungle this. So my initial moves somewhat limited me insofar as I can't put an ironworks down this turn. Oops. I need to play my own coal or build a port. I'll build coal in Blackburn and then a link to Burnley. Bacchus will probably connect the link to the port next turn and I could eventually make my way there. It seems like a hell of a lot of effort to build a port and then a link, especially since someone behind me could just come in and play an iron works in one of the places I helpfully connect. Someone could put down an ironworks then in Blackburn and sell out the iron, but oh well.

And then I draw an iron works!
Birkenhead, Manchester, Manchester, Cotton Mill, Iron Works, Port, Shipyard, Shipyard.

[Cheater Hater]

Yeah, that certainly doesn't seem like the best move, especially when anyone with an Ironworks can go to that location (since you can build anywhere to start). As such, I started by developing the L1 Ironworks and the last L1 Cotton Mill, then building the L2 Ironworks in Blackburn. One thing I was wondering was if to develop the L2 Ironworks instead of the L1 Cotton Mill, but it feels like Ironworks are a valuable resource (we don't get more industries at the start of the Rail Period, right? It feels like 4 Ironworks is a little low) and I didn't want to develop one away that scored twice, especially when I want to play my L2 Cotton Mill soon anyway.

Speaking of next turn, my hand is Lancaster, Liverpool, Cotton Mill, Cotton Mill, Coal Mine, Birkenhead, Liverpool, Cotton Mill. (as I draw my fourth Cotton Mill and third Liverpool this game) Obviously best case is building my L2 Cotton Mill in Blackburn, but I doubt that will stay until my next turn (and in fact, I'd be surprised if Old Harry doesn't do so next turn). Just to confirm, I need my own transport network connection to build somewhere, right? (and not just a transport network). Is it worth it to use the double-action to build my Cotton Mill in Burnley (assuming Bacchus builds Canal: Colne->Yorkshire to sell his cotton, I can go Canal: Burnley->Colne then sell my cotton, or should I go somewhere else on the map (say, building my Cotton Mill in Lancaster, and developing both L1 Ports, then building my L2 Port in Lancaster and selling that way--though that does require me to get a card to do so)?

Edit: Yeah, Old Harry's taking a loan, then will probably build the Cotton Mill at the beginning of the next turn.

[Old Harry]

3am turn? What could possibly go wrong...

Looks like CH took advantage of Wetbandit's generous Coal Mine to put iron back in the demand track, so developing some more would be cheap. Also I'd like to try and help Bacchus drain the cotton demand track - I can use the cotton mill card to build in Colne only because it's the first thing I'll place.



Thinking about it though I reckon Bacchus needs to build two canals and one cotton mill and then sell to put me at risk of losing out on the cotton track (obviously it helps that he already told us that's what he's doing, but I'm going to pretend I know how to play this game at least). That will cost £18 this turn (and £3 next turn), so I can spend less than that and get to market first next turn.

So I'll develop a cotton mill and a port (since no-one else has tried that yet), then take a loan. I spent my Lancaster and Oldham cards and my hand now reads Burnley, Liverpool, Macclesfield, Manchester, Preston, Rochdale, Cotton Mill, Port. (I should perhaps have just developed two ports in case I get an opportunity to place two mills next turn, but its too late to think of that now.)

Speaking of next turn, my hand is Lancaster, Liverpool, Cotton Mill, Cotton Mill, Coal Mine, Birkenhead, Liverpool, Cotton Mill. (as I draw my fourth Cotton Mill and third Liverpool this game) Obviously best case is building my L2 Cotton Mill in Blackburn, but I doubt that will stay until my next turn (and in fact, I'd be surprised if Old Harry doesn't do so next turn). Just to confirm, I need my own transport network connection to build somewhere, right? (and not just a transport network). Is it worth it to use the double-action to build my Cotton Mill in Burnley (assuming Bacchus builds Canal: Colne->Yorkshire to sell his cotton, I can go Canal: Burnley->Colne then sell my cotton, or should I go somewhere else on the map (say, building my Cotton Mill in Lancaster, and developing both L1 Ports, then building my L2 Port in Lancaster and selling that way--though that does require me to get a card to do so)?

Edit: Yeah, Old Harry's taking a loan, then will probably build the Cotton Mill at the beginning of the next turn.

You can't build in Blackburn again - only one industry per town in the canal phase, but you can use your Burnley card and wetbandit's canal to ship the coal to put a mill in Burnley. If you wanted to use a Cotton Mill card you'd need a link.

If you're worried that the cotton demand track will bottom out before you get there then building in Lancaster and Preston (with a link and a Cotton Mill card) is an option too. But you should build the mill first so someone doesn't pirate your Port (I always assume that's bad, but actually it's flipping it without you spending an action, so perhaps it isn't?)

[Cheater Hater]

Speaking of next turn, my hand is Lancaster, Liverpool, Cotton Mill, Cotton Mill, Coal Mine, Birkenhead, Liverpool, Cotton Mill. (as I draw my fourth Cotton Mill and third Liverpool this game) Obviously best case is building my L2 Cotton Mill in Blackburn, but I doubt that will stay until my next turn (and in fact, I'd be surprised if Old Harry doesn't do so next turn). Just to confirm, I need my own transport network connection to build somewhere, right? (and not just a transport network). Is it worth it to use the double-action to build my Cotton Mill in Burnley (assuming Bacchus builds Canal: Colne->Yorkshire to sell his cotton, I can go Canal: Burnley->Colne then sell my cotton, or should I go somewhere else on the map (say, building my Cotton Mill in Lancaster, and developing both L1 Ports, then building my L2 Port in Lancaster and selling that way--though that does require me to get a card to do so)?

Edit: Yeah, Old Harry's taking a loan, then will probably build the Cotton Mill at the beginning of the next turn.

You can't build in Blackburn again - only one industry per town in the canal phase, but you can use your Burnley card and wetbandit's canal to ship the coal to put a mill in Burnley. If you wanted to use a Cotton Mill card you'd need a link.

If you're worried that the cotton demand track will bottom out before you get there then building in Lancaster and Preston (with a link and a Cotton Mill card) is an option too. But you should build the mill first so someone doesn't pirate your Port (I always assume that's bad, but actually it's flipping it without you spending an action, so perhaps it isn't?)

Oh right, the one industry per town in the canal phase rule (aka the "yes, you need to build some canals" rule)--I keep forgetting that.

Building the Cotton Mill in Lancaster feels like the only realistic move at this point, but then I'm not sure what to do next. My gut says Develop both my L1 Ports, but am I supposed to be Developing even when Iron is so expensive? Maybe I'm supposed to just build the Canal: Lancaster->Preston, then build a L1 Port to sell my cotton quickly.

How many turns should I expect the Distant Market to last? Math says the average distance is just under 2 per sale, so it'll last around 4 sales (or on average one per person), but how many turns will that last? Also, does the Distant Market get reset when the Rail Period starts?

So far things seem interesting--if the rules get arcane soon I might lose interest, but I'm liking it so far.

[Bacchus]

The distant market does reset at the end of the period, and the rules don't really get any more arcane. Probably the only thing to note is that loans are not accessible in the very last 4 turns of the game.

I proceeded with my plan, building one cotton mill and one canal. Old Harry is now in a very strong position, and I am in quite a weak one with a bunch of junk industries on the board, but I have a couple of ideas of how to turns this about. Fortunately, OH will have to choose between developing his mills again , so he can plonk down a lvl2 mill or going with a lvl1 so that he gets first shot at the market. And as I write this I see he went with the latter. He also drew a -3 card, which is annoying, I might not get to sell all I want.