Following on from the success of 'Brass' we will be releasing a new version of the game that allows for play on a variety of maps. For those of you who have played Warfrog's 'Brass' then most of the rules in this game will be familiar to you. If you have not has the pleasure of playing 'Brass' then please take comfort in the fact that the rules to 'Age of Industry' are somewhat shorter (although not necessarily simpler). The game is suitable for three to five players.

This is a business game set during the nineteenth century, when many countries around the world where experiencing their own particular 'industrial revolution'. Your only aim is to build profitable industries. To do this successfully you must divine where the best opportunities are to make such a profit (that's the hard part of the game).

You will take a set of industry counters which you must place on your player display. This display shows you how much it costs to build each counter and what profit you will earn when it is flipped to its other side. The display also tells you whether an industry needs coal and/or iron to be completed, and how many coal or iron cubes are placed on it once it is built.

There are six industry types in 'Age of Industry', cotton mills, 'X' industries, coal mines, iron works, ports, and ships. You also have a number of railway counters. You may be wondering what an 'X' industry is. Well, its the best name I could come up with for an industry whose type varies depending on the map you are playing on. On the Germany map these industry counters best represent the chemical industry, while on the New England map they can be thought of as manufactured goods, such as shoes. Each counter has a tech level number. When you build an industry you must take the lowest tech level one available from your display. As you build industries higher tech level counters become available. You can also speed up the process of accessing higher level tech counters by the means of the development action. Some industry counters have a tech level of zero. These cannot be built and the only way you can get rid of them is to use the development action.

The heart of 'Age of Industry' is flipping counters. To earn money you must first build industry counters and then contrive to have them flipped, which will earn you a profit. When counters actually flip varies depending on the type of industry. Cotton and 'X' industry counters are flipped when they sell their goods via ports and market counters. Ports are flipped when something is sold via them. Coal mines and iron works are flipped when all of the cubes on them are removed, and ships are flipped when the two connecting spaces are used up (all of the coal has been taken and the market counter has been flipped).

Building an industry counter requires the play of a card, the expenditure of money, and possibly the acquisition of coal and iron. The card you play will either determine the type of industry you can build or which location you can build it in. Matters become more complicated when you need coal and iron, as they need to be moved to the location that you are building in via railway links. Some industries can only be built in specific spaces, i.e. a coal mine can only be built in a space with a coal mine symbol.

As well as building industries you can also build railways. Building your own railways increases the number of potential locations you can build in, while railways in general aid the movement of coal and iron and allow goods to be sold to ports and markets.

Please note that you will start the game with absolutely no money. However, you can take a loan whenever you want, just don't go mad as the interest payments map cripple you!

The game ends when the deck of cards is exhausted and one or more players have no more cards in their hand. You now earn money for railways, pay off any loans, and then score points for the money you have left and the buildings you have on the board (every $5 is one point and each building is worth a number of points equal to its tech level). And that is pretty much that. The key to the game is understanding the rules about building industry counters. They may seem a little daunting at first but once you have the hang of them then you will find that the rest of the game is pretty straightforward.

The limited edition version of the game will include wooden money and wooden trains. Each limited edition copy will be signed and numbered. There will be one thousand such copies produced. There will also be a standard shop version.

Rules and artwork will be posted as soon as they are completed.