Brass: Lancashire

The game board is double-sided; use the 2-4 player side. Remove specific player count tiles and cards marked with an exclamation mark. Shuffle the draw deck, deal cards equal to the number of players face down, place the Stevenson Rocket tile, then the rest of the deck. Shuffle and place distant cotton market tiles face down. Place the distant cotton market marker on the topmost left space. Fill the coal and iron markets completely. Players start with 30 pounds and fill their personal boards with cotton mills, ports, shipyards, iron works, and coal mines.

The primary objective in Brass: Lancashire is to accumulate the most victory points. This is achieved by strategically developing industries, establishing a robust network of canals and railways, and efficiently selling goods to markets. Players must manage their finances, resources, and connections to outperform opponents over two distinct eras: the Canal Era and the Rail Era.

Players perform two actions on their turn, except for the first round of the Canal Era where they perform one. Actions include building industries (using a location or industry card, or two cards as a wild for both actions), networking (building canals or railways), selling goods (cotton from mills or ports), or taking a loan. When building, coal can be bought from the market if no connected coal mine is available, provided the industry is connected to a market trade arrow location. Shipyards are a new buildable tile; locked shipyards require a develop action to access higher-level ships. When building two rail lines in the Rail Era, it costs 15 pounds and no beer. When selling, you can flip a cotton mill and a connected unflipped port, or sell to the distant market if connected to a market double-arrow location. Selling to the distant market moves the marker down its track, affecting income bonuses, and carries a risk of failure. Taking a loan allows choosing between 10, 20, or 30 pounds, moving your income marker back 1, 2, or 3 levels respectively, but you cannot drop below -10 income.

At the end of both the Canal and Rail Eras, players score victory points. Points are awarded for flipped industry tiles and established links (canals and railways). After the Rail Era, each player also gains one victory point for every 10 pounds they possess. The player with the highest total victory points wins the game.

The Canal Era ends when the draw deck is exhausted. Links and flipped industry tiles are scored, canal tokens and level 1 industries are removed. The Stevenson Rocket tile is flipped to Nathan Rothschild, and all discarded cards are shuffled into a new draw deck. The Rail Era then begins, with players drawing cards until the deck is exhausted. The Nathan Rothschild tile is flipped to the Stevenson Rocket after the next round, indicating that loans can no longer be taken. The game concludes once the Rail Era ends, followed by a final scoring of links, flipped industries, and money. The player with the most victory points is declared the winner.