It’s hard to believe that it’s been over 8 years since I first played and reviewed Colt Express. This decade-old game of action programming a train heist has been delighting gamers with its 3D train and chaotic gameplay for over a decade.
But recently, there has been a quality of life upgrade for this rootin’ tootin’ game. The Colt Express Big Box is a re-release of Colt Express, complete with a new character and 2 expansions. Is this a worthy upgrade to your age-worn copy? Let’s find out!
Gameplay Overview:
I’ve actually covered how to play Colt Express in pretty solid detail in my original review. So, if you want the full ins and outs, give it a read here.
The quick of it is that you and your fellow players are robbing a train with the goal of being the bandit with the most loot. Each round, you will play 3-5 cards into a communal action programming stack. Some cards will be face up (so you know what other players are doing), while others will be played face down.
Once all the cards have been played, the stack is revealed, one card at a time, and the matching player takes that action. This involves moving around the 3D train, shooting/punching other bandits, and collecting loot tokens.
The chaos comes when another player does something you didn’t expect. Such as punching you to a different car, moving the Marshall into your car (forcing you to the roof), or stealing the loot you wanted. At the end of 5 rounds, the richest gunslinger is the winner!
Game Experience:
The gameplay in this edition of Colt Express is identical to the original, so again, I’ll refer you to my previous review to see what I think of the core gameplay (spoiler alert: I gave it 4.5 stars). So let’s talk about why you might want to pick up the big box.
As the name implies, this is indeed a big box, much bigger than the core game. However, you get a solid amount of content with the big box. In addition to the core game, it also comes with two expansions: Marshalls and prisoners, and Horses and stagecoaches.
Marshalls and Prisoners: This expansion features two modules to use. One lets a player take on the role of the Marshall. The Marshall has 4 goals to complete, and if done, the Marshall wins the game. So while the Marshall plays a little differently than the core bandits, for the most part, he is doing a lot of the same things. The prisoner module adds a prison car and brilliant idea cards for the bandits. These cards can be used to copy a previous card’s action or free prisoners from the prison cell, earning loot or a sidekick.
Horses and Stage Coaches: One that we’ve also reviewed in the past, but to summarize, this module adds horses for your bandits (and yes, the meeples fit on top of the horses). A bandit can use the new horse action to jump on a horse next to the train and move up to 3 cars before jumping back in the train. Basically, you can use it to move faster inside the train instead of only 1 car. The stagecoach rides along the train, and you can send your bandit in there to claim a hostage. The hostage is worth extra money at the end of the game, but is a bit of a hindrance during the game.
One thing that’s wholly new in the big box is a new bandit Character. Silk, as she’s named, allows you to pick her character ability from 3 choices. One gives her more flexible movement. The dodge power lets you give neutral bullets from the marshal to a player of your choice. And the block power lets you stop other players from entering your car through the rear door. While the character powers are overall fairly minor in terms of the overall gameplay, more content is always welcome.
Finally, people like me who love organized games will appreciate the big box as it provides storage for the core game and both modules. The box is divided into slots and even has an insert guide to let you know where everything needs to go. For those who like this kind of quality of life upgrade, it’s a welcome addition. Although there isn’t room to hold the Couriers and Armored train expansion, you are on your own for that one.
Final Thoughts:
If you already own Colt Express and the first two expansions, then you probably don’t have a lot of reasons to grab this big box. The storage solution is really nice, but not 100% necessary. The same can be said for the new character, Silk. However, if you only have the core game or no Colt Express at all, then this is the edition to get. It has a ton of replay value, a way to store it all, and some small bonuses as well.
As nothing in the gameplay has changed, I’m not going to give it a new rating (I’ll stand by my original one). Even after all this time, Colt Express is still a great game of action programming mayhem.
Source: Board Game Quest
