Colt Express Review

Aaaaaall aboard! Next stop, the Old West! Climb onto the Union Pacific Express and prepare for the journey of a lifetime. Your plan? To rob this train, of course! Unbeknownst to you, however, several other bandits have picked this exact train as their score as well! Which bandit can outwit the others and come away with the most loot? Or will the Marshall track you all down and hand you over to the Law?

Disclaimer: There are many expansions for Colt Express. I do not have any of them, nor do I have any gameplay experience with any of them. If and when I do get them added into my base game, I will either amend this review or write a new one! – L

Colt Express is a game of action programming in which players are trying to accumulate the most treasure over 5 rounds of play. Each round consists of 2 phases – Schemin’ and Stealin’. During the Schemin’ phase, players select action cards from their hand and play them to the center of the table in turn order. Possible actions are: Move between cars, Change floors, Shoot, Rob, or Move the Marshall. Depending on the round requirements, cards will be played either face-up or face-down. Face-up cards allow your opponents to see what you are programming and gives everyone a chance to counteract those actions, while the face-down cards leave some mystery to your strategy and your ultimate plan for victory. During the Stealin’ phase, the action cards are actually performed in the same order in which they were played. A new round card is then revealed, and players start the next Schemin’ phase. After 5 rounds, the player who has accumulated the most loot is the winner!

I have to start by saying that I generally do not like action programming games. I like to have a clear step-by-step strategy that I am able to adjust and adapt based on the current play situations. In action programming games, that really isn’t possible because you have to commit to your chosen actions before they are played out. That makes these games more chaotic than I would like because your carefully thought-out plans can be easily compromised by one single action of an opponent, throwing your strategy out the window. That being said, I think Colt Express approaches action programming in a unique way that takes the game to the next level. How? By varying whether your programmed actions are public or private knowledge. Depending on the round, you play cards face-up or face-down to the center of the table. As stated earlier, face-up cards give your opponents a peek at your strategy while your face-down cards keep some mystery in your plans. I really like this approach because it makes the game less luck-driven and gives players the opportunity to play with some semblance of strategy. Instead of focusing on just your actions and hoping that they aren’t inadvertently compromised, you get the chance to see some of what your opponents are planning and adjust your gameplay based on that. Yes, there will always be some twists and surprises that you didn’t see coming, but you’ve got to think beyond your strategy and keep yourself safe from other players. The added element of partial hidden-information makes Colt Express a more exciting game for me.

Let’s talk components next. I think the game components of Colt Express make the game so neat and cute at the same time. Colt Express is played on an actual 3D cardboard train! Each player has a meeple in their color, and you get to physically move your merson around the train according to your programmed actions. I think it works great by adding that spacial element to help players visualize their movement. The components themselves are pretty good quality, in my opinion. The train and the loot tokens are made of nice sturdy cardboard, and I know they will hold up to lots of plays. And don’t sweat it – the train can be stored fully-assembled in the box! That minimizes the time required for setup, and lets you get right to playing.

All in all, I think Colt Express is a fun game that requires strategy, but is not a brain-burner. There’s still enough luck involved to keep everyone on their toes, and the ensuing quasi-chaos really make the game feel like a train heist. If you haven’t tried Colt Express, I would recommend you do. It’s not on my list of favorite games, but it’s one that I like to bring out every so often! Purple Phoenix Games gives Colt Express a high-speed 15 / 24.