Up Front (game)

World War II card-based wargame

For other uses, see Up Front.

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Up FrontDesigners| Courtney F. Allen

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Publishers| Avalon Hill
Wargame Vault
Years active| 1983–present
Players| 2
Playing time| 60+ minutes
Website| Wargame Vault
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Wargames

Types

* Military wargaming
* Recreational wargaming

Level of War

* Megagame
* Monster game
* Grand strategy wargame
* Strategic wargame
* Operational wargame
* Tactical wargame
* Skirmish

Genres

* Air wargaming
* Board wargames
* Computer wargames
* Miniature wargaming
* Naval wargaming

People

19th century pioneers

* Johann Hellwig
* Fred T. Jane
* Georg von Reisswitz
* Julius von Verdy du Vernois

20th century pioneers

* Tony Bath
* Phil Barker
* Richard Berg
* Allan B. Calhamer
* Tom Dalgliesh
* Jim Dunnigan
* Don Featherstone
* Paddy Griffith
* Gary Gygax
* Larry Harris, Jr.
* John Hill
* Charles S. Roberts
* Redmond Simonsen
* S. Craig Taylor
* H. G. Wells

Groups

* Castle & Crusade Society
* Game Manufacturers Association
* International Federation of Wargaming
* International Wargames Federation
* Society of Twentieth Century Wargamers

Events

* Charles S. Roberts Award
* Gen Con
* Origins Game Fair
* World Boardgaming Championships

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* List of wargame publishers

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Up Front is a World War II card-based wargame. It was designed by Courtney F. Allen and published by Avalon Hill in 1983. Hasbro now owns the franchise, and at one time licensed it to Multi-Man Publishing, a license that has since expired without republication of the game. There was an attempt to reprint Up Front through Kickstarter in 2013. The project raised over $300,000, but no updates to status has been posted since March 21, 2014.

In 2016 Hasbro licensed Wargame Vault to sell Up Front as a print on demand product; and the game is now available through on-line ordering. The official rules are currently available to order either as a printed book or as a portable document format electronic file. The components (cards) are produced on high quality card-stock with all known official errata incorporated in the reprints.

## Description

[edit]

Subtitled The Squad Leader Card Game, Up Front was intended as a card version of their successful Squad Leader series of games, but it represented a radical change in approach. Traditional wargames are based on maps representing terrain and game pieces representing units, which attack on their players' turns. Up Front has terrain, attack opportunities, and other factors determined by cards dealt to the players.

Fans of the game claim this type of play gives the player a more realistic feel for man-to-man combat where most terrain will be unfamiliar. With traditional map-based wargames, players have an overhead view of the entire battlefield. In Up Front, locations are revealed as the game is played, emulating how real soldiers might encounter and explore terrain.

The game contains two different kinds of cards, Personality and Action. A Personality card depicts a single soldier and several statistics about him including his name, rank, and the weapon he is carrying. These are assigned by the scenario selected (scenarios lettered A-L were included in the base game) and arranged in groups by the players. The Action Deck contains different types of cards including terrain, movement, heroes, and many other game factors. These are shuffled and dealt to the players.

The original game included German, U.S., and Russian units along with their equipment. Expansions added to the nationalities available for play. Each nationality was given different capabilities including variations in hand size and discard ability which imposes different tactics for the players by limiting the options available to them.

## Expansions

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Two official expansions were released for Up Front:

* Banzai (1984), which included Japanese, British, and USMC forces along with rules for Jungle Terrain, Random Reinforcements, and Scenarios M-X.
* Desert War (1985), which included French, and Italian forces as well as rules for Desert Terrain.

Both expansions are now available as print to order products from Wargame Vault.

## Reception

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Sandy Petersen comments: "If you can find a copy of Up Front, and you like tactical combat at all, check it out. Or even if you just like card games. In either case, you won't be disappointed. This is a game that surpasses its flaws, and turns some of them into strengths."[1]

## Legacy

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Like many Avalon Hill games, Up Front continues to be popular among loyal fans. There are active groups dedicated to the game on the Internet.

There is also a VASSAL Engine module for this game.

Wargame Vault now sells licensed copies of the original game and both expansions as print to order products.

## References

[edit]

1. ^ Petersen, Sandy (2007). "Up Front". In Lowder, James (ed.). Hobby Games: The 100 Best. Green Ronin Publishing. pp. 341–344\. ISBN 978-1-932442-96-0.341-344&rft.pub=Green+Ronin+Publishing&rft.date=2007&rft.isbn=978-1-932442-96-0&rft.aulast=Petersen&rft.aufirst=Sandy&rfr_id=info:sid/en.wikipedia.org:Up+Front+(game)" class="Z3988">

## External links

[edit]

* Up Front at BoardGameGeek
* Up Front Online Rulebook
* Halisp Up Front mailing list
* Up Front Yahoo! group
* Robo's Up Front Card Game Page
* Up Front! Official Rulebook from Wargame Vault

* v
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Avalon Hill

Wargames|

* Tactics (1954)
* Tactics II (1958)
* Gettysburg (1958)
* Chancellorsville (1961)
* Civil War (1961)
* D-Day (1961)
* Bismarck (1962)
* Afrika Korps (1963)
* Stalingrad (1963)
* Midway (1964)
* Blitzkrieg (1965)
* Jutland (1967)
* 1914 (1968)
* Anzio (1969)
* PanzerBlitz (1970)
* Caesar (1971)
* Origins of World War II (1971)
* Outdoor Survival (1972)
* Richthofen's War (1972)
* 1776 (1974)
* Alexander the Great (1974)
* Panzer Leader (1974)
* Rise and Decline of the Third Reich (1974)
* The Russian Campaign (1974)
* Tobruk (1975)
* Wooden Ships and Iron Men (1975)
* Starship Troopers (1976)
* War at Sea (1976)
* Air Assault on Crete (1977)
* Arab-Israeli Wars (1977)
* Hexagony (1977)
* Napoleon (1977)
* Squad Leader (1977)
* Victory in the Pacific (1977)
* Wizard's Quest (1979)
* The Longest Day (1980)
* War and Peace (1980)
* Hitler's War (1981)
* Storm Over Arnhem (1981)
* Panzer Armee Afrika (1982)
* B-17, Queen of the Skies (1983)
* Up Front (1983)
* White Bear and Red Moon (1983)
* Panzergruppe Guderian (1984)
* Advanced Squad Leader (1985)
* Empires in Arms (1985)
* Platoon (1986)
* Patton's Best (1987)
* Turning Point: Stalingrad (1989)
* Battle of the Bulge (1991)
* Midway (1991)
* Advanced Third Reich (1992)
* Guadalcanal (1992)
* We the People (1993)
* Empire of the Rising Sun (1995)
* London's Burning (1995)
* Axis & Allies (1999)
* Battle Cry (2000)

| Axis & Allies|

* Axis & Allies: Europe (1999)
* Axis & Allies: Pacific (2001)
* Axis & Allies: D-Day (2004)
* Axis & Allies Miniatures (2005)
* Axis & Allies: Battle of the Bulge (2006)
* Axis & Allies Naval Miniatures: War at Sea (2007)
* Axis & Allies: Guadalcanal (2007)
* Axis & Allies: Europe 1940 (2010)
* Axis & Allies: Pacific 1940 (2010)
* Axis & Allies: World War I 1914 (2013)

|

Role-playing games|

| Victory Games|

* James Bond 007 (1983)

|

* Lords of Creation (1983)
* Powers & Perils (1983)
* RuneQuest (1984)
* Tales from the Floating Vagabond (1991)

Computer games|

* B-1 Nuclear Bomber (1980)
* Computer Acquire (1980)
* Lords of Karma (1980)
* Midway Campaign (1980)
* North Atlantic Convoy Raider (1980)
* Planet Miners (1980)
* NukeWar (1980)
* Conflict 2500 (1981)
* Empire of the Over-Mind (1981)
* Galaxy (1981)
* Voyager I (1981)
* The Alien (1982)
* Andromeda Conquest (1982)
* Legionnaire (1982)
* Telengard (1982)
* Computer Football Strategy (1983)
* Panzer-Jagd (1983)
* Gulf Strike (1984)
* Incunabula (1984)
* Jupiter Mission 1999 (1984)
* Quest of the Space Beagle (1984)
* Space Cowboy (1984)
* Under Southern Skies (1984)
* Under Fire! (1985)
* Darkhorn: Realm of the Warlords (1985)
* Guderian (1987)
* Wooden Ships and Iron Men (1987)
* 5th Fleet (1994)
* Flight Commander 2 (1994)
* Operation Crusader (1994)
* Kingmaker (1995)
* 1830: Railroads & Robber Barons (1995)
* D-Day: America Invades (1995)
* World at War: Stalingrad (1995)
* Avalon Hill's Advanced Civilization (1996)
* Over the Reich (1996)
* Wooden Ships and Iron Men (1996)
* Achtung Spitfire! (1997)

Board games|

* Management (1960)
* Squander (1965)
* Kingmaker (1975)
* Acquire (1976)
* Diplomacy (1976)
* TwixT (1976)
* Rail Baron (1977)
* Speed Circuit (1977)
* Bowl Bound (1978)
* Dune (1979)
* Magic Realm (1979)
* Source of the Nile (1979)
* Circus Maximus (1980)
* Civilization (1980)
* Machiavelli (1980)
* Amoeba Wars (1981)
* Conquistador (1981)
* Paydirt (1982)
* Titan (1982)
* Wizards (1982)
* The Mystic Wood (1983)
* 1830: The Game of Railroads and Robber Barons (1986)
* Britannia (1987)
* Kremlin (1988)
* Merchant of Venus (1988)
* Republic of Rome (1990)
* Advanced Civilization (1991)
* History of the World (1993)
* Age of Renaissance (1996)
* Air Baron (1996)
* Stratego: Legends (1999)
* Cosmic Encounter (2000)
* Star Wars – The Queen's Gambit (2000)
* Risk 2210 A.D. (2002)
* Betrayal at House on the Hill (2004)
* Risk Godstorm (2004)
* Monsters Menace America (2005)
* Nexus Ops (2005)
* RoboRally (2005)
* Vegas Showdown (2005)

| Card games|

* Down with the King (1981)
* Enemy in Sight (1981)
* Titan: The Arena (1997)

|

Magazines|

* The General

People|

* Charles S. Roberts
* Eric Dott

Related|

* Hasbro
* Wizards of the Coast
* List of Avalon Hill games

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