Colt Express review

Colt Express is a fast-paced and rewarding board game with simple rules that allow anyone to sit down and play.

As a bandit you’ll be robbing, punching and shooting your way through the Colt Express train and trying to stop other bandits as you go.

This is a game for 2-6 players (best with 6 players) with a big focus on player interaction. 

The maximum game time is around 40 minutes.

Game Overview

Colt Express is based around an action programming mechanic where you plan your actions ahead of time, and then watch your decisions unfold one by one.

The game is played over five rounds. Each round sees players shoot, loot, punch and steal their way to victory. 

In order to win, you must carefully plan your actions, while keeping a close eye on what everyone else is doing. This gets tricky because every round has important information hidden from you and your job is to guess how everything falls into place.

At the end of the game, the cash is tallied and the richest bandit is the victor.

Game Experience

Before you start, you need to build your train. The process takes about 5-minutes and once its done, it’s done – you don’t have to disassemble it again. From there the game is easy to set up and learning the rules is equally straightforward, allow 5-10 mins and maybe one practice round. The game is suitable for all ages and works well for a family board game night.

Colt Express plays out on a 3D model train with one locomotive and six train cars. It’s unique and adds to the Wild West theme. The one issue is how fiddly it is. People with big fingers will struggle to move their bandit through the train cars without knocking everything over.

This is a game where a well thought out plan can end up with the goods, however there is a rather large element of luck and randomisation involved. Quite often you simply have to guess what you think is going to happen and hope for the best, rather than execute a long-winded strategic plan. For the uber strategist this might sound frustrating, but I’d argue this is where the game shines. The chaos and confusion is the game’s best attribute. Watching opposition players’ plans fail is another. 

Colt Express is a game for 2-6 players. But, I wouldn’t recommend this game if you’re only going to be playing as a duo. The extra players add to the confusion and enjoyment.

Colt Express’s fast gameplay is another key selling point. There isn’t much downtime, even with six players. Turns come around quickly and rounds don’t drag. With six bandits you can expect a maximum game time of around 30 – 40 minutes.

The replayability of Colt Express is where it struggles, but only slightly. While every game is different, it isn’t enough to feel like a completely new experience. The core experience remains the same but the options and actions don’t change enough to make it feel like it’s new every time. Strategies will be similar to every other game of Colt Express you’ve played. 

This is the sort of game that you get out, play a couple of times and then put away, only to bring it out a few weeks later at your next board game meet. 

Verdict

Colt Express is an accessible board game that anyone can pick up and play. You won’t have to spend hours trying to explain the rules to new players and the games don’t drag.

The game is fun, and the chaos that takes place during the rounds is memorable and will make you laugh out loud. 

While strategic decisions and concentration will pay off, the randomness of Colt Express is what makes the game unique. And there aren’t many games out there that work this well with 6 players. This is a fun game that I recommend as an addition to any game library.