Colt Super Express First Impressions

Colt Super Express is Colt Express in battle royale form.

But is it better than the original?

Players compete to be the last Colt Express rider standing because there can only be one when this train stops.

Colt Super Express Game Play

You start play laying out the train cards. You have the locomotive, then 1 passenger car per player, then the caboose. In turn order, players place their meeples from back to front, facing towards the middle of the train.

Phase 1 – Schemin!

Players pick 3 of their 6 cards from their hand and place them face down and they will resolve from top to bottom. I’ll explain the cards in a bit.

Phase 2 – Shootin!

The start player reveals their start card and performs the action. This continues around the table until all players have played their top card. Then play continues in this way until all players have played their 3 cards.

Phase 3 – End of Round

The train car at the back detaches and eliminates any bandit that is on it. The player furthest back on the train gets that card as a ‘point’.

The start player marker goes clockwise and a new round starts.

End of Game – If only one bandit is left on the train, they win. If only the locomotive is left, the player with the most points from train cards is the winner.

The Cards

Flip – Turn around on the spot

Change Floor – Move up onto the roof, or down into the carriage

Move – Move forward one space but this will eliminate a player that walks off the front or back of the train.

Fire – Shoot the first bandit in line of sight. Move them back one carriage and lay them down stunned. If this pushes a bandit out of the train they are eliminated.

Reflex – If you are stunned, stand up and fire straight away. if you’re not stunned, stun yourself. Outside of this, any card you play will wake you up from being stunned.

Horse – Move to the front of the train. If this was the next card you play after getting eliminated from the train, you get back on

Setup

Layout the cards and add meeples, give out a set of matching cards. That is all.

Components & Artwork

So there are cards instead of a nice cardboard train you see in the regular version of Colt Express. I assume if you have both you can just use the cards from this game with the cool train?

The art is cute, I’ve always liked the art in this game.

Ease of Teaching & Accessibility

This is a very simple gateway game so it is easy to teach. There are only 6 cards and 4 are very straightforward so once the other 2 are down you’re sorted.

Colt Super Express Summary

Difficult one for me! I’ll look at the positives and negatives over the regular Colt Express game.

Positives

• I like the battle royale style game
• Turns are quicker, the game is shorter
• It’s easier to move your meeple
• You don’t have the stress of trying to keep hold of your loot

Negatives

• No big cardboard train
• The lack of loot means you only have one focus on a turn
• Player elimination
• The bandits do not have player powers!

Better or not, I think this is my new favourite, quick programming game over Get Bit! and Walk the Plank! and while I wouldn’t own it, I would play it more.

Jesta ThaRogue