1822: The Railways of Great Britain — North Regional Scenario

1822NRS (North Regional Scenario) uses exactly the same rules engine as 1822: The Railways of Great Britain (see that entry for the full detail on auctions, minors, mergers, and phases). What changes is the scope of the map and the length of the game.

1. Trimmed map: from Birmingham northward
The NRS is the northern half of the 1822 map: it starts roughly at the level of Birmingham and extends northward, with Wales and London treated as "off-map" destinations. It's played on the physical reverse side of the 1822MRS board. Compared to 1830, it's a smaller, more concentrated map, but with the same city density characteristic of 1822.

2. Shorter game: 3.5-4.5 hours
Like the MRS, an NRS game usually lasts between 3.5 and 4.5 hours, much less than a full 1822GB game and in line with the usual length of an 1830 game among experienced players.

3. Fewer companies in play
With a smaller map, fewer minors and majors float than in 1822GB, although the auction mechanism (simultaneous privates + minors + concessions, with limited bidding chips) is exactly the same.

4. Same minor and merger rules as 1822GB
Minors start at a fixed price of 50 in phase 1 and at a price determined by the bid from phase 2 onward, and merge into a major that traces an unblocked route to them, just as in 1822GB. This mechanic, absent from 1830, is the same one described in detail in the 1822GB entry.

5. Trains and phases identical to 1822GB
The same initial "L" trains convertible to 2-trains and the same numbered phase progression are used, unlike 1830 where the first generation of trains is already the standard 2-city train.

In summary: the NRS offers the 1822 experience (simultaneous auctions, mergeable minors, L trains, priority by cash on hand) in the shortest format of all the game's scenarios, focused only on the northern half of the map.

1822NRS — Schematic summary (vs 1830)

SETTING

• Regional map: from Birmingham northward (Wales and London off-map) — a subset of 1822GB
• 3.5-4.5 hour game, the shortest scenario in the 1822 family

RULES ENGINE

• Identical to 1822GB: simultaneous auctions of privates/minors/concessions, minors mergeable into majors, initial "L" trains, numbered phases, priority by cash on hand
• See the 1822GB entry for the full detail of every difference from 1830

SCALE

• Fewer active companies than 1822GB due to the reduced map
• Length similar to a standard 1830 game