Colt Express
Colt Express Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Contents
- 6 Train cars
- 1 Locomotive
- 10 Terrain elements
- Loot tokens of various values:
- 18 Purses worth between $250 and $500
- 6 Jewels worth $500 each
- 2 Strongboxes worth $1000 each
- 17 Round Cards:
- 7 cards for 2, 3 and 4 players
- 7 cards for 5 and 6 players
- 3 Train Station cards
- 1 Marshal figure
- 13 Neutral Bullet cards
For each player (x6):
- 1 Character sheet
- 1 Character card
- 10 Action cards
- 6 Bullet cards
- 1 Bandit figure
Note – Before your first game, carefully assemble the train cars and the locomotive using the enclosed instructions.
The game rules for 3 to 6 players are described below. For a 2-player game, see "Special Rules: 2 Bandits Per Player."
Set Up
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Take the locomotive and 1 train car for each player and form the train by placing them in a row in the center of the table with the locomotive on one end. The car farthest from the locomotive is the caboose.
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Set aside 1 $250 purse token for each player, then place loot tokens into each car as indicated on the floor of the car. Purses are taken at random and placed face-down with their value hidden. The passengers in each car have different loot, ready for you to steal!
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Place the Marshal figure and a strongbox inside the locomotive. Throughout the game, the Marshal will stand in the way of the bandits. It is up to you to be smart and draw him away from his strongbox at just the right moment.
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Place the 13 Neutral Bullet cards in a pile next to the locomotive. These are the injuries that the Marshal might give to the bandits.
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Each player chooses a character, takes the corresponding character sheet (or card if space is limited) and places it in front of him. Each player also takes 1 set-aside $250 purse and places it face-down on his character sheet, keeping its value hidden. During the game, you will stack your loot on your character sheet. The value of your purses must remain hidden from your opponents, but you can look at your own purses whenever you want.
Each player shuffles the 10 Action cards of his character's color and places them face-down on his character sheet to form his deck. All the players have the same set of Action cards.
He places the 6 Bullet cards of his character's color on his character sheet in ascending order of number of bullets to form his cylinder pile. At the beginning of the game, your cylinder is full. You will fire at your opponents to slow them down.
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For your first game, randomly draw 5 Round cards from the 7 that correspond to the number of players (either the Round cards marked 2-4 or those marked 5-6) and shuffle them to form the Round deck. For your next games, you can use the advanced setup rules (see "Events"). In this way, you get a sequence of 5 events which tell the story of the train robbery. You will discover them as the game progresses.
Note – The other side of the character sheet is used to play with the Expert Variant.
Placing the Bandits
Take the bandit figures corresponding to the chosen characters and randomly choose 1. The player who has chosen this character is the First Player for the first round.
Starting with the First Player and proceeding clockwise, players alternate placing their bandit figures in the caboose and the car adjacent to the caboose.
Object of the Game
To win, you must become the richest bandit in the Wild West. To reach this goal, you will try to get more loot than your opponents... without being hit by too many bullets! The best shooter will receive the title of Gunslinger, worth $1000.
Each player has 10 cards for 6 different actions: Move (x2), Change Floor (x2), Shoot (x2), Punch (x1), Loot (x2), Marshal (x1).
Types of Turns
There are 5 Rounds in a game. Each Round has 2 phases:
- Phase 1: Schemin'! The players play their Action cards into a pile in the center of the table.
- Phase 2: Stealin'! The Action cards played during Phase 1 are resolved.
The Round card shows the number and type of turns. The types of turns are:
- Standard Turn – Players play Action cards face-up.
- Tunnel – Players play Action cards face-down.
- Speeding-Up – Players take 2 turns in a row (players can choose to either play or draw cards on each turn).
- Switching – Players take their turns in counter-clockwise order, starting with the First Player.
Note – These cards can also show a round's effect (see "Advanced Rules").
Phase 1: Schemin'!
The First Player draws the top card of the Round deck and places it on the table so that everyone can see it. This Round card shows the number and type of turns, indicated by icons in the upper-left of the card (see "Types of Turns").
At the beginning of a round, each player draws 6 cards. These cards form the player's hand.
During this phase, players will program their bandits' actions by playing Action cards in a pile. All actions will resolve during the next phase. Try to visualize the consequences of your actions and those of your opponents.
Starting with the First Player, each player takes his turn, followed by the next player in clockwise order. On his turn, a player must do 1 of the following:
- Play an Action card face-up (unless otherwise specified) from his hand to the top of the pile.
- Draw 3 cards from his deck and add them to his hand.
The Schemin'! phase ends when the number of turns indicated on the Round card has been completed. Each player places any unplayed cards remaining in his hand on top of his deck.
Example of the first turn
Cheyenne is the First Player for this round.
- Cheyenne plays a Move card from her hand.
- Belle, on her left, plays a Shoot card on top of Cheyenne's card.
- Tuco, on Belle's left, decides to draw cards instead of playing a card. He draws 3 cards from his deck and adds them to his hand.
- Finally, Doc plays a Change Floor card on top of Belle's card.
Then the second turn begins. The cards will be played onto the same pile.
Phase 2: Stealin'!
Now that all actions have been played, it's time to apply their effects. All the players start acting...and enduring the other players' actions!
The First Player takes the pile of Action cards that was created during the Schemin'! phase and turns it over without changing the order of the cards.
The bandits' Actions are resolved one-by-one, starting with the top card (i.e., in the order they were played).
All Actions played during the Schemin'! phase are mandatory. During the Stealin'! phase, each player must resolve each of his actions if possible.
Once all Actions have been resolved, the cards are returned to the players to whom they belong. Each player shuffles all of his cards (10 Action cards and any Bullet cards he has received). Then he places his deck on his character sheet.
The player to the left of the First Player places the Round deck in front of himself and becomes the new First Player. Then the next round begins.
End of the Game
The game ends at the end of the fifth round. Each player then adds up the value of the loot tokens he has on his character sheet.
The Gunslinger prize is awarded to the player(s) who shot the most bullets (i.e., who has the fewest Bullet cards of his character's color remaining). This prize is worth $1000.
The richest player wins the game. In case of a tie, the tied player who received the fewest Bullet cards wins. In the case of a further tie, the tied players share the victory!
Action Cards
Bandits can be inside a car or on the roof of a car. At the start of the game, no bandit can be on a roof. The locomotive counts as a car.
Move
Move between cars:
- If you are inside a car, move to the inside of an adjacent car.
- If you are on the roof of a car, move to the roof of a car 1 to 3 cars away.
Running on the roof saves you time and helps you evade the Marshal.
Change Floor
Move between floors:
- If you are inside a car, move to on the roof of that car.
- If you are on the roof of a car, move to the inside of that car.
Shoot
Take the top Bullet card of your cylinder pile and place it on top of another bandit's deck. You cannot shoot a bandit in your space.
- If you are inside a car, you can shoot a bandit who is inside an adjacent car (in either direction). You cannot shoot a bandit that is more than 1 car away.
- When you are on the roof, you can shoot a bandit who is in your line of sight, regardless of the distance. A bandit is in your line of sight if he is on the roof of any car other than yours and there is no other bandit between you. If several bandits are on the roof of the same car, you choose which one to shoot.
If there is no target to be shot, keep your Bullet card; the Shoot action has no effect. If you run out of Bullet cards during the game, your subsequent Shoot actions will have no effect.
When you shoot a bandit, you give him one of your Bullet cards. This allows you to compete for the title of Gunslinger. More importantly, your Action will handicap your opponent for the rest of the game, since the Bullet cards are useless to the shot player. They are "dead cards" that will clog up his hand.
Rob
Take 1 loot token from your space without looking at its value and place it face-down on your character sheet. If you are on the roof of a car, you cannot rob inside it, and vice versa. If there is no loot you can take, the Rob action has no effect.
Punch
Choose another bandit in your space. The chosen bandit loses 1 loot token if he has one: choose 1 loot token from his character sheet and place it in your space. You cannot look at the values of his purse tokens.
Then, move the chosen bandit to the same floor of an adjacent car.
Punching is a good way to make your opponent lose his bigger loot. It may also disrupt his Stealin' plan.
Marshal
Move the Marshal to the inside of an adjacent car. Caution! When a bandit enters the Marshal's space or the Marshal enters a bandit's space, the bandit escapes to the roof of the car (even if he just changed floors). A bandit can never stay inside the car where the Marshal is located.
Additionally, the escaping bandit immediately takes a Neutral Bullet card and places it on his deck. If there are not enough Neutral Bullet cards for each escaping bandit to take 1, bandits do not take Bullets when they encounter the Marshal.
The Marshal is protecting the passengers: he never goes up on the roof.
At this stage, you know all the rules you need for your first game. The following sections contain advanced rules to play with after you have mastered the basic game.
Character Powers
After a few games, you will be able to play with the character powers and the events.
- Ghost – During your first turn of each round, you can play your Action card face-down. If you choose to draw 3 cards instead of playing an Action card during your first turn, you cannot use Ghost's power later in the round.
- Doc – At the beginning of each Round, draw 7 cards instead of 6.
- Tuco – You can shoot a bandit on the other floor of your car.
- Cheyenne – When punching a bandit, you can take the purse he has just lost. If he lost a jewel or a strongbox, the loot falls to the floor (as normal).
- Belle – You cannot be punched or shot by a bandit if another bandit could be punched or shot instead.
- Django – When you shoot a bandit, move him to the same floor of the adjacent car farthest from you if possible (bandits cannot leave the train).
Events
The advanced rules add special Round cards called Train Station cards.
In stage 6 of setup, take 1 fewer Round card and take 1 Train Station card. Place the Train Station card face-down, then shuffle the other 4 Round cards and place them face-down on top of the Train Station card to form the Round deck.
Some Round cards, including Train Station cards, have event icons in the upper-right corner. These events always resolve at the end of the Round, after Phase 2: Stealin'! The event icons are explained below.
- Braking – Each bandit on a roof moves to the roof of the adjacent car closest to the locomotive. Bandits on the roof of the locomotive do not move.
- Angry Marshal – The Marshal shoots the bandits who are on the roof of his car. Each bandit on the roof of the Marshal's car takes 1 Neutral Bullet card and places it face-down on his deck. Then the Marshal moves 1 car toward the caboose. If the Marshal is already in the caboose, he does not move.
- Swivel Arm – Each bandit on a roof moves to the roof of the caboose.
- Take It All! – Place the second strongbox token in the Marshal's space.
- Passengers' Rebellion – Each bandit inside a car takes 1 Neutral Bullet card and places it face-down on his deck.
- Pickpocketing – Each bandit with no other bandits in his space may take 1 purse token in his space and place it face-down on his character sheet.
- Hostage Conductor – Each bandit inside or on the roof of the locomotive takes 1 $250 purse token from outside the game and places it face-down on his character card.
Note – If there are not enough Neutral Bullet cards for each escaping bandit to take 1, the bandits do not take Bullets.
Train Station Cards
- Marshal's Revenge – Each bandit on the roof of the Marshal's car places his least valuable purse token on the roof of his car. If a bandit has no purse, he loses nothing (even if he has jewels or strongboxes).
Special Rules: 2 Bandits Per Player
These rules allow 2 or 3 players to play using 2 bandits each. Play the game as normal with the following exceptions:
Setup
Use the Round cards for 2 to 4 players. For 2 players, use 3 cars. For 3 players, use 4 cars.
Set Ghost, Doc, and Belle's character cards aside, then randomly assign 1 of the remaining character cards to each. Each player chooses a team of characters.
Each player takes 1 copy of each different Action card from each of his bandits' decks, then sets aside 1 Marshal card and all remaining action cards. He will have 11 cards remaining (2 Move, 2 Floor Change, 2 Punch, 2 Fire, 2 Robbery, 1 Marshal).
Each player shuffles his 11 cards together to form his deck. Each deck should contain the Action cards of 2 different characters.
To place the bandits in the train, each player secretly places 1 of his bandit figures in each hand, then all players reveal their figures simultaneously. The players place the bandit figures in their left hands inside the caboose, and the other figure inside the car adjacent to the caboose.
Starting a Round
At the beginning of each round, before shuffling his deck, each player chooses 1 card from his deck and adds it to his hand. After shuffling the rest of the deck, each player draws 6 cards (for a total of 7 cards in hand).
Cover Rule
During a standard turn, if a player plays 1 of his bandit's Shoot cards, he can immediately play 1 of his other bandit's Action cards.
This second card cannot be a Marshal card. If the second card is a Shoot card, he cannot then play an additional card.
Note – During the game, loot taken by each of a player's bandits is placed on that bandit's character card. Each bandit's loot should be kept separate.
End of the Game
Each player adds up the value of his bandits' loot tokens.
The Gunslinger prize is awarded to the player whose bandits shot the highest total bullets. This total does not include either of that player's bandits' Bullet cards (if one of the player's bandits shot the other).
Character Clarifications
A player with Ghost on his team can play his first card face-down even if it is not Ghost's Action card. He may choose not to play the card face down if, for example, he would like to play an additional Action card using the Cover rule.
A player with Doc on his team draws 7 cards in addition to the card he chooses and adds to his hand, for a total of 8 cards.
Expert Variant
To play a more strategic game, players can play using the following changes:
- At the end of the Schemin'! Phase, each player may choose to keep any cards in his hand for the next round. He places each other card in a face-up discard pile to the right of his deck. Players do not shuffle their cards together during the Stealin'! Phase.
- During the Stealin'! phase, after a player resolves an Action card, he places it face-up in his discard pile. When a player receives a Bullet card, he places it face-down on top of his deck.
- At the beginning of each Round, each player draws cards from his deck until he has 6 cards in hand.
If a player would draw a card and there are no cards in his deck, he shuffles his discard pile and places it face-down to form his deck, then continues drawing. Players can freely look through their discard piles.
Use the back of your character sheet to place your discarded cards.
Credits
Ludonaute – 20 boulevard Dethez, 13800 Istres - France. Distributed by Asmodee.
Christophe Raimbault, Jordi Valbuena.
© 2016 Ludonaute, All Rights Reserved. © 2016 COLT Express, All Rights Reserved.