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In April 2015, I posted an overview of the Colt Express: Horses & Stagecoach expansion due out Ludonaute at Spiel 2015, and BGG user Morten Elgaard has rounded up more info on this expansion and two others in the works: Colt Express: Marshal & Prisoners, which is due out February 2016, and Colt Express: Indians & Cavalry, due in October 2016. If you're not content to wait for these items, Ludonaute has already released a downloadable rule set for playing in teams and for playing with two and three players (PDF) Heck, Ludonaute has also released rules for a role-playing version of Colt Express (PDF) and started working on special pawns for the game, a first sample of which is shown below:
If you're not familiar with Colt Express, you can check out this video overview from Ludonaute's Anne-Cécile Lefebvre from Gen Con 2014 or read her long and informative publisher's diary about the game on BGG News, which details how the train came to be the star of this design:
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—Chinatown, 1999
—Taj Mahal, 2000
—The Traders of Genoa, 2001
—Royal Turf, 2001
—Edel, Stein & Reich, 2003
—San Juan, 2004
—Notre Dame, 2007
—In the Year of the Dragon, 2008
—The Castles of Burgundy, 2011
After all of the nominations and accolades, alea finally takes home the big poppel for a game that's a reworking of the previously SdJ-nominated Witch's Brew? Isn't this result akin to designer Reiner Knizia winning the Spiel des Jahres for Keltis in 2008 after not winning for so many other better, more involved games?! (Knizia missed that awards ceremony, getting stuck in traffic en route from the airport, while coincidentally alea developer Stefan Brück missed out on this award ceremony due to illness. After so many years, they both missed out on the celebration...)
To any such notions, I preemptively say "Bah!" Yes, Broom Service uses the game system at the heart of Witch's Brew — and I say as much in my Broom Service overview — but the game differs a lot from that earlier title, with players now competing both to carry out the roles that they've chosen and to deliver the goods they've acquired. That delivery aspect of the game adds another element of timing to what you want to play when and which roles you'll choose in the first place. You have the event cards and clouds to provide additional complicating factors each time you play, along with variants that can throw even more elements into the mix. Put all of this together, combined with Vincent Dutrait's fantastic artwork, and I'm not surprised that the SdJ jury chose Broom Service given that it already appreciated the game system in Witch's Brew. (Also, I love Keltis and have played it more than almost any other Knizia game that I own.)
For those not familiar with Broom Service, you can read the overview that I linked to above or watch the game being played by the Game Night crew:
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For an overview of Spinderella, here's an overview that BGG recorded at Spielwarenmesse in February 2015:
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