Out in the Colt

Colt Express is a board game with an inspired theme and great components to support it. Players are train robbers in the Old West, competing against each other to steal the most loot and become the greatest outlaw.

It's played across a series of train cars -- cleverly designed cardboard fold-ups that make large 3D pieces. Importantly, the inside and top of each car is visible. That's so the game can play out that fun cinematic cliche of running across the top of a train. You jump in and out of windows, climb ladders, and race between cars. A deck of cards simulates sudden braking of the train, going through tunnels, and other events that cause things to happen to your figures each round.

You're all shooting at each other and getting into fistfights, too. Whenever you take damage, a dead card is inserted into your tiny deck, which can effectively decrease your hand size and your options as you plan during each new round. A roaming sheriff figure on the train will also squeeze off shots at you, to the same damaging effect.

Up to this point, I'm mostly on board with the game. Beyond that point? Well... it starts to get a bit like RoboRally, and not in such a good way. Every round, you "program" four cards to represent the actions you'll take. Only after everyone has chosen their actions do you then reveal cards one at a time and see what really happens. There are a lot of ways the other players can interfere with your carefully laid plans. They can move the sheriff to your location, causing you damage and driving you onto the roof of the train. They can swipe the limited available loot before you can grab it. They can shoot you and inflict damage, or punch you and force you to drop loot you've gathered.

It's ultimately quite chaotic, and to me more than a little frustrating. RoboRally dilutes the frustration around the chaos in a few key ways. First, the boards are rather large, and players can place the "checkpoints" you must reach in places with more than one approach. In short, there's room to maneuver without inevitably and constantly being on top of the other players. But in Colt Express, there are only a few train cars and really nowhere to run.

Second, RoboRally's interference comes from the board just as often as the other players. Sure, a player messing with you is often what starts your troubles, but it often feels like forces out of anyone's control take over after that -- the conveyor belts, gears, and other obstacles printed on the boards. In Colt Express, all your difficulties are inflicted by one player or another -- even the movement of the sheriff pawn.

All in all, the "take that!" element of Colt Express is dialed up awfully high for my tastes. It's a fun distillation of a very specific setting, conjuring exactly the visuals it sets out to conjure. I'm simply not a fan of this much direct attacking on other players in board games. I can imagine plenty of gamers out there who would find it a real triumph. And by leaps and bounds, it's better than other combative competition games that leave me cold. Still, it's not one I'd want in my collection. I grade Colt Express a C.