Review of the board game “Colt Express”
Colt Express is a game developed by Christophe Raimbault, published in 2014. The game immediately won recognition from families and companies of friends, as evidenced by the number of released copies of the game. Their total number as of 2016 is 450,000. The game has received many awards and honors, such as 4 awards from the Golden Geek Award.
Game set
When you open the box first of all you will see a lot of cardboard pieces, which with a simple manipulation turn into a whole train of cars and locomotives. Some people thinks this part of preparation for the game unnecessary and even annoying, but in practice preparing for the round is interesting. In the game set you’ll find wooden pawns (one of them is the marshal, and the others are bandits). The pawns are distributed among the players according to the chosen character. You can see a description of each of them, their abilities and useful properties on special sheets. Participant choose the character by lottery or by personal agreement. In the set there are tokens, which are considered a real treasure in the game. They must be placed on the bottom of the train cars according to the markings indicated on the floor of each train car. The game set “Colt Express” also includes game cards, which are unique to each character.
Setting up the game and the game play
Before the start of the game, participants arrange their characters in train cars in a certain order, the scheme of arrangement you will find in the game rules. Each round an event card is chosen according to which the players will decide on their actions, for example, it can specify how the participants will make moves: in the open, closed or just move, using two cards at once. You can read about all action variations in the game rules.
A distinctive feature of “Colt Express” is its dynamism, because, unlike other board games, you have to constantly move your characters on a 3D train model, which makes the game lively and exciting.
Here’s a list of actions you might come across on event cards:
- Horizontal movement. This action gives you the right to move on train cars or rooftops
- Going up/down. You can go up on the roof or, conversely, come down from it.
- Robbing. The card with the dollar sign means you can take one loot that lies on the floor, thus earning victory points.
- Punching. With this action you take a loot from the character next to you. The defeated character moves to an adjacent location.
- Shooting. You attack your opponent without making contact with him. The attacked character gets a bullet card.
- Moving a marshal. Using a star card allows you to move the marshal to the train car. All players move to the roof when they meet him.
Scoring
The game ends after the fifth round, when all scheduled action cards have been played. The outlaw who shot the most becomes the gunslinger and wins $1,000, which will increase his chance of winning. All players count their loot and a winner is determined.
Conclusion
Although the aim of the game is to rob other participants, Colt Express is a great game for children and their parents to relax after a hard day’s work. To make the atmosphere even more natural, you will find various decorations in the game set such as cacti, fences and others. The game also has add-ons that you can buy later, such as Horses&Stagecoach. The game is easy to learn. Beginners can immediately begin to learn the game along with the add-ons.
