Colt Express

Have you and your friends ever wanted to rob a train?
Ever had the desire to experience playing an outlaw in the Wild West?
Well now you can with Colt Express.

Colt Express is a board game in which 2-6 players act as train robbers attempting to rob the passengers traveling on board while avoiding the Marshal. But once you've all made it aboard the plan goes awry and greed takes over.

Setting up the game:

Each person adopts the guise of different characters making their way through a 3D cardboard train of unsuspecting passengers.

 All the characters have unique abilities represented by the small picture in between the train and the picture of themselves: 

Belle cannot be targeted by a Punch or Fire action if there is another character that can be targeted. 

When Cheyenne Punches another character, she can take a loot bag that character would have dropped, but cannot take a gem or the strongbox they just fall on the floor as usual.

Tuco can shoot through the roofs of train cars able to hit a character either above himself or below.

When Django shoots another character, the shot knocks them back to the train car behind if able.

Ghost is able to play his first Action card of each round face down no matter if the Round card calls for it or not, if you choose to draw three cards instead of playing an Action card you cannot use his ability later in that Round.

At the beginning of each round, Doc allows you to draw up to seven cards instead of the normal six.

Once characters are selected, each player takes the corresponding character card and places it in front of them, taking with it 6 Bullet cards of matching colour, ordering them into most bullets from least. They also take 10 action cards, (each player has a set of the same 10 action cards) shuffles them and places them face down in front of them, this is their personal deck.

The Action cards in players decks consist of six different cards;

Moving horizontally (From the train car you're in to one either side of it if able.)

Moving vertically (Either leaving the train car you're in and going onto the roof or moving from the roof to the train car below.)

Robbery (When this action card is played, the character can take a piece of loot in the same train car, you cannot take loot from the train car if your character is on top of it and vice versa.)

Fire (When firing, you choose an opponent in a train car adjacent to your character and give them a bullet card which they place in their deck. You cannot shoot a character in the same spot as you. When firing on top of the train cars you can shoot an opponent in your line of sight no matter how far away they are. If there are two characters occupying the same roof, you can choose which one you hit.)

Throwing a punch (Punches can only land if there is another character in/on the same train car as you, the punched character then drops a loot token of your choice on the spot they were occupying and moves one train car in either direction of your choice.)

Marshal (You can move the Marshal one train car either way of your choice. If the Marshal enters the train car where any characters are or characters enter a train car where the Marshal is, all characters must move to the roof of that train car.)

A bag of loot equaling $250 is given to each player and placed face down on that players character to hide the value. There will be other pieces of loot, gems and a strongbox, that have different values scattered throughout the train for you to accumulate as well.

In the middle of the table, placed between all players, is the locomotive, attached with as many train cars as there are players. Each train car has purses and gems on the floor, each indicating how many should be placed in each car. The Marshal and the Strongbox, containing the ultimate treasure each character is after, are placed at the front of the train in the locomotive. Four Round cards of the seven, which correspond the number of players, are selected and shuffled. Then randomly select a Train Station card and place it on the bottom of the four shuffled Round cards creating a face down pile with the Train Station at the bottom.

Finally, place 13 Neutral Bullet cards next to the locomotive. These Neutral Bullets indicate when a character has been shot by the Marshal and get placed into that players deck, these Bullets don't have a colour.

Now you're ready to start.

To determine which player goes first, take the character cards from all played characters, shuffle them and randomly draw one. This is the first player for the first round, this player takes the face down pile of five cards, with the Train Station at the bottom, and places it in front of them. This is player one and going clockwise will be players two, three and so on.

 The players with an odd number in the order place their characters in the caboose, or the back train car, and the players with an even number in the order place their characters in the train car next to the caboose.

The aim of the game is to gain the most loot from the train, or other characters, and try and get hit the least.

At the beginning of each round, players shuffle their deck and draws a hand of six cards, then the first player reveals the top card of the Round cards. The Round card will indicate how many turns will occur in each Round and thus how many actions each player will have per Round.

The Schemin' Phase

The actions are split into two choices; Either players can play an Action card in their hand, or they can choose to draw three cards from the deck in exchange for playing an action card.

Starting with the first player, each player plays and Actions card into a common pile in the center of the table corresponding to the number of turns shown on the Round card. These Round cards will give you different hints as to what players need to do while playing their cards.

Blank space: the Action cards gets played face up on the pile.

Tunnel: the Action cards get played face down on the pile.

Double blank space (speeding up): Each player plays twice, either drawing six cards, playing two cards, or drawing three cards and playing one card.

U turn (switching): The current turn is played counter-clockwise, starting with the first player.

Once all players have used as many Action cards as the Round card has called for, that marks the end of the Schemin' Phase and the start of the Stealing Phase.

In this phase, the first player takes the common pile of Action cards and turns the deck over without changing the order of the cards. The cards in the Action deck then get played starting with the top card (the order the cards were played.) After all Actions in the pile have been performed, they are then returned to the characters that played them and put back into their decks.

At the end of each round, each player shuffles their deck to randomize all cards that may have been played in the most recent round. There may also be additional Events that appear on the Round cards.

The Round events are things that happen at the end of a round:

Angry Marshal: This is indicated by an arrow point towards a Marshals badge and means the Marshal shoots all characters on the roof of the car he is in, giving them all neutral bullets, then the Marshal moves one car towards the caboose.

Swivel Arm: This is indicated by an arrow going from the Locomotive to the caboose and means that at the end of the round all characters on top of any train cars automatically move to the caboose of the train.

Braking: Indicated by an arrow pointing from the back of the train cars towards the Locomotive, and means any characters on the roof of any train car at the end of the round move one train car forward.

Take it all: Indicated by the Marshal's badge and a strongbox, at the end of the round you put a second strongbox into the train car where the Marshal currently is.

Passenger's Rebellion: Indicated by an explosion in a train car, this means that any character inside the train cars at the end of the round get a neutral bullet.

Pick pocketing: Indicated by a train car and a purse, this means if a character is alone in a train car at the end of the round, they may pick up a piece of loot from that train car.

Marshal's Revenge: Indicated by a train car with a Marshal's badge and purse and this means any character on top of the train car the Marshal is in at the end of the round loses the least valuable purse they have, if they don't have any purses they don't lose anything even if they have gems or a strongbox.

Hostage taking of the conductor: Indicated by the locomotive and $250, this means that any character in the locomotive or on top of it at the end of the round receives a $250 ransom.

At the end of the game, each player totals up all the loot they have acquired to determine who is the richest. There is also the Gunslinger card that is awarded to the character that has shot the most, or has the least of their coloured Bullet cards left, and gets an additional $1000. The richest character wins, if characters are tied for the most money the one with the least Bullet cards from other players wins.

Thoughts:

When first playing Colt Express, initially I was drawn in by the aesthetic, brightness and unintimidating feel. After playing it however, I've found that it can be a very intricate game, resulting in mind games and planning several actions ahead to get the most loot from the train or your opponents. The game-play is simple to understand, making it accessible to a younger audience, while still being challenging for older players as well, which is definitely the sign of a good game being able to simplify to the best degree and still provide a great experience.
I feel there is a bit of replay-ability in Colt Express especially when combined with the expansion packs, allowing you to play as the outlaws on horseback and play as the Marshal himself.
I would heavily recommend Colt Express to gamers looking for a game with decent length, a great experience with two or more players and a lot of possible variants. You're plans may not come to fruition as they should have when they were thought up, but you'll still have a lot of fun throughout your journey.

Thanks for reading and I hope that this has given you a good idea of what Colt Express is like, and possibly even made you want to play it. In which case I would advise heading to you local games/hobbies store and inquiring about it, but in the mean time, keep checking back to Game Changers for more gaming news and updates.