How to teach Brew

ODBG 0012 - Brew Quick Teach

Set up the game

Give each player a character and 6 dice (4 of one colour and 2 element dice). Give each player 2 wild resource tokens. Give each player a chance to read and understand how their character's ability works. (Don't explain it yet.). Finally give each player a Reminder card so that they can start planning what they're doing whilst you finish setting up.

Shuffle and place face up all the creature decks Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter (Yellow,Purple,Orange, Blue).

Shuffle and place face down all the potions, flip over the top 4 and place in a row. These are the potions players are able to Brew throughout the game. Whenever 1 is brewed, the top potion card is added to the row.

Shuffle all the forest cards and place the top X cards face up in a row. (X = Number of players plus 1)

Place the Village card face up so that it is showing Daytime.

Ensure the resource tokens are in piles that are easy to reach.

Finally give the 1st player token to the player who most recently brewed a cup of tea.

What is Brew?

Brew is set in a fictitious world where the seasons are out of control running wild in the forests. It is your job to Brew potions and train creatures to get the seasons back under control. However each forest (season/s denoted by colour) has different needs to do this. By placing your dice on matching areas of each forest you gain control of areas.

How to win brew?

You win Brew by having the best reputation (most points) for brewing and drinking potions, training creatures, releasing creatures and controlling forests. Each scores you points in a slightly different way:

Trained creatures score the End game points listed on the front of a creature card.

Released creatures score the End Game points listed on the back of a creature card.

Brewing and drinking potions score the End Game points listed on each potion but only the ones you drink.

Controlling Forests gives you End game points listed on the top of each forest and it gives you a season type that you can release creatures into.

How to play

Each game is 4 rounds.

At the start of each round players roll their 6 dice. Each round continues until each player has placed all their dice (their turns).

Each turn consists of placing one die (and gaining the reward). Brewing up to one potion (which has the ingredient price next to it). Drinking up to one potion (which has the benefit listed on the bottom). You can do these 3 actions in any order.

When placing the dice (usually) you can place in any vacant position on any of the forests or village. There are some exceptions for certain creatures and characters.

When placing a dice you collect any applicable bonuses from your trained creatures (e.g. you might earn a resource of choice whenever placing a die in an Autumn forest). Then you collect the resource or reward listed on the location.

If using an element dice this changes as different elements allow you to do different things.

Water allows you to collect double the resources.

Wind allows you to swap it with an already placed resource die.

Fire allows you to place it on top of another players die nullifying it's contribution to area control.

After all the dice are placed the round ends. Forests are then awarded to the players with the most control. The 1st player token passes to the left. Then players retrieve their 4 resource dice and 2 element dice ready to start the next round. The village flips and the new round begins.

At the end of the game score up all points including all those for leftover resources. The player with the most wins.

Hints and tips for playing and teaching Brew

This is a worker placement game where you can do shenanigans that effect other players. These are usually potions or character abilities. ;) “hint, hint, wink, wink, know what I mean”.

Whenever you do a turn its always best to explain what you're doing, how and why you are doing it so that new players get the jist and feel more confident when doing their turn.

The first game you play of this should always be focused on helping players explore the game and how different things work. After the first round players will usually have the hang of it and more of a strategy.

Thanks for reading.

Sam

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