I found it very satisfying to take out a loan and pay it off in the same turn, not losing anything from negative income. But your suggestion is foolproof and probably wiser in a competitive game.

That victory is all down to you mate! But thanks, I really appreciate your comment. I don't think I've won a game of this yet :-D

Yeah! Ten Feet [Daxten Remix] by Curio. It's on KZfaq. Thanks!

See how I cut out the mistake you spotted! I was VERY fortunate that I could do it! Thanks so much for the correction!

I did! Nicely done :) along with the clarification text about level 1 being built in rail. It all still flowed nicely. Oh, btw, I almost grabbed Farmers of the moor revised edition from my game store the other day but they had Ladies of Troyes expansion for Troyes so I had to go with that. Been looking for it for a while. They also had a pack of Agricola cards that I debated grabbing based off your videos. Maybe next time.

I have got Ladies of Troyes, the best kind of expansion - it doesn't change the rules but just adds more cards. I actually have been trying to get a contributor for a video on that game! No joy though. As for the Agricola decks, no point buying them if you can't get a lot of Agricola played so I commend you for your self-discipline!

Troyes would be a perfect “meets historian” game.

The building that produces iron in the game. Historically, steam engines were used in iron blast furnaces. Some pictures are here: ethw.org/Thomas_Newcomen_and_the_Steam_Engine

Purist! Do you have the Roxley Games edition? I did play the 2009 Lancashire. I didn't quite click with it but I remained intrigued. I didn't get a chance to play it again though. I remember it was hard to line up a sell action without someone using your port. In lockdown I tried Birimingham on Tabletopia and it was the most exciting game experience I had in years! Now you mention it I would like to try Lancashire again. I am looking forward to playing the published version of Birmingham when we get out of lockdown - tabletopia is a beta version.

@@UnfussyBoardGames I have the Roxley Lancashire. The reason why I bought it was because it had an app version. I like physical games with other people, but digital games against AIs. However, there is talk about an app of Birmingham, and if that comes out, I may buy Birmingham, too. I guess it is best to first build cotton, and then build port and ship in one round.

@@HelmerAslaksen How interesting that there is an app! I might look into that. I don't use apps much but I did enjoy Through The Ages. That said, gaming with friends takes up enough of my time as it is. But not in lockdown obviously!

@@UnfussyBoardGames I mostly play with my kids, and they are not quite ready for Brass, yet. The app is quite good. I win on 3-player, but I struggle with 4-player. I need a strategy video! :-)

@@HelmerAslaksen I'll get on that app then! :-D

Thanks for this! That's why I was saying first action build a canal. You will need the right location card but you can start the game anywhere. Maybe someone else would helpfully build a canal to help us with that! I agree with you that building canals can be useful actions. I'm just saying that I avoid building canals that don't score a lot of points - if I can. So if a player has done that for me, I'm really pleased! You say sacrificing a few actions - but if we can avoid it that's great, right? :-)

@@UnfussyBoardGames Well, yes, and if you can find someone to hold a fan and make cool air in a hot summer day while you're playing and drinking a chilled cup of ice tea that would be even better but that's not how life works. Your logic reminds me a lot of people who say that they don't like spending dice for workers in castles of burgundy. Yes, obviously it's not the best thing to do but you're going to need key tiles for your strategy to work and sometimes dice just don't work the way you want so you need those workers.

@@cabalpaxiarch7239 Love it! Thinking about it, I see your point how it sounded like I was saying. "first action, steam engine". It was not my intention, I was trying really hard to be concise - but maybe too hard. Really helpful comment, thanks. But again, who DOES like spending dice for workers in CoB? Aren't we trying to avoid it? But I take your point, sometimes games require bold moves like that. Indeed I often make the mistake in games of playing it safe - and not seeing those possibilities!

@@UnfussyBoardGames Actually, one of my favorite things to do in CoB is build up the dice for workers action. With the proper technologies you can get 4 workers and a coin for one die, that's literally 2 and a half actions. Mostly I was referring to sacrificing immediate tempo for late game value. Sacrificing an action now to get a mine that will garner you free actions in the future is great. In Brass, developing so as to avoid building tier 1 buildings is great but I've actually found that one of the best openings is cotton + port into loan and selling. It gets you such a huge income boost that you can just develop later and focus on building up permanent points. But I see your point as well. Brass is a tactical game and if your opponent fascilitates an easy ironworks by providing you a canal you should grab it while you can.

@@cabalpaxiarch7239 I just got it into my head that Level 1 Cotton is a total no no and so this is really interesting! I love games that have this depth, this is opening my eyes! I think I probably listen to the forums a bit too much. Sounds like you play Lancashire. I didn't get many opportunities to play that. As for CoB that strategy sounds pretty wild, and yet it does make sense :-D I want to get the game out and try that...

Nobody needs to watch the video. Just read this 😀

Thanks for reposting Alison! Is your ancestry that drew you to this game? Have you played it? Very cool!