Up Front is one of my favorite all time games. It lacks beautiful mesmerizing bits, it has tedious rules with plenty of errata, it is about 25 years old, yet it has definitely stood the test of time as far as interesting gameplay and mechanics are concerned.

Setting the stage:
Up Front is a tactical level completely card-driven WW II game. Some would even call it a skirmish level game, since you control individual guys in a single squad.

Each player controls a squad of about 10-15 individual soldiers. One player controls the Germans, the other player controls either the Russians or Americans. In any scenario, whether playing the attacker or defender, you can choose whoever you want to be as long as one side is the Germans. Soldiers are in the form of little cards; your squad is broken up into groups (usually 3-4). Usually you will have anywhere from 2-6 guys in your group. Your groups are positioned directly opposite your opponent's groups. There is plenty of firepower diversity in your squad; you potentially get flamethrowers, LMG, MMG, mortars, light anti-tank weapons (bazookas, panzerschreks, etc), big infantry guns anti-tank magnetic mines, demolition charges etc. Some squads control armored fighting vehicles (AFV's), which come in the form of tanks, halftracks armored cars etc. So there is plenty going on with your little squad. Your squad has a squad leader and an assistant squad leader that incurs even more abilities such as laying smoke, transferring squad memebers, calling artillery support, etc (be careful though, if you are the Russians, your commissar may get mad and execute cowardly squad members). So as you can see, you have plenty of weapons to pick from, though most scenarios designate what you actually get. On the other hand, there are design-your-own (DYO) scenario options which let you hand pick your squad.

Who needs a Map?
One of the most interesting aspects of Up Front is that there is no physical map. The geograpphy is all abstracted via Terrain cards and relative ranges. Now, I admit that I am a sucker for a big beautiful map as much as the next guy, and true, it may make long-term planning a little more difficult, but the lack of knowing the exact lay of the land takes away some of the omniscience. For example, when a squad comes across a stream unexpectedly, that just means they really didn't know it was going to be there in the first place and just kind of stumbled upon it. This adds significant variety to the game. So how does all this work?? Players start all their groups at range 0 and at Relative Range 0 (RR 0) to each opposing enemy group. When a group moves foward, its range chit increases by 1. The RR also increases to 1 with regards its relative distance to its opposing enemy group. RR 5 is the closest you can get to a group, and if you go beyond that, you have actually passed the opposing group(s). Movement is done in the form of playing Movement cards. Note that each turn, each group gets to do one action. So if a group moves, it is done for that turn. A Terrain card can then be placed on a group containing a Movement card on a following turn (enemies may place bad Terrain cards on their opponents too). There is a multitude of terrains: woods, marshes, gullies, streams, wire, minefields, buildings, hills, open terrain, brush. So in summary, the map is abstracted in the form of Terrain cards and Relative Ranges

What can my squad do?
Obviously your main objective is to eliminate the bad guys while trying to avoid the same from happening to you. Most scenarios have certain objectives such as reaching a specific range or assaulting various strongholds, such as pillboxes. Below is a brief outline of what actions your squad can take:

1. Move- as described above

2. Fire- Most fire is in the form of gun fire. Fire cards are played if your group meets the firepower prerequsite. Eack soldier has a Fire factor number on his card at a given relative range. The closer you are to the enemy, the more fire factors that can be mustered. Fire attacks (along with most everything else) are done by drawing a card and looking at the random number on it to see if it hits or misses. Using a card in this fashion is referred to as an RNC check (Random Number Card). Factors that effect firepower are flanking (which adds a significant maneuvering component to the game), encirclement, play of Conealment cards and whether or not your firing group is moving.

3. Ordnance fire- This is in the form of mortars, light anti tank weapons and AFV armament. With ordnance, you have to secure a hit first

4. Infiltration- at RR 5 your guys can sneak into an opposing enemy squads encampment and engage in close combat. You can also do other things like set off demolition charges and take prisoners

5. Lay Smoke and Wire

6. Transfer squad members to another group

7. Repair Malfunctioned Weapons and/or acquire lost weapons

8. Rally pinned soldiers- When a good order squad member takes a hit he is usually pinned first. If he takes another hit, he may be routed or KIA, both results effectively taking that soldier out of the game.

9. Observation attempts- during night scenarios only

10. Try to make it out of a Minefield without getting blown to pieces

11. AFV's can attempt to overrun at RR 5 inaddition to their normal move and fire actions

12. Artillery strikes

13. Entrench

14. Snipers- These are played on your opponent in the form of a discard (see below for discard capablities)

There are more things, though these are the main actions your squad can perform

Gameplay
Each player has a hand of cards. The hand size is based on what nationality is being played. In general, either RNC's (see above) are drawn and/or cards are played to perform an action. Each group can basically perform at most one action. So if a group plays a Rally card to unpin his soldiers, that group can take no more actions that turn (but this would have no effect on what the other groups may do). After your turn is complete, you draw up to your hand size (reduced if your SL and/or ASL is killed/pinned or if you are down to 1 group). If you perform no actions that turn, you may D/C cards out of your hand into the discard pile or onto your opponent in the case of minefields, streams, wire etc. The number you D/C depends on the nationality. Examples:

-Russia: hand limit of 4, may D/C any number of cards from their hand at the end of their turn if they took no action that turn.
-USA: hand limit of 6, may D/C 2 cards from their hand at the end of their turn if they took no action that turn.
-Germany: hand limit of 5. May D/C only 1 card from their hand at the end of their turn, though regardless of how many actions were taken.

The Cards
Like a lot of the card driven wargames, the Up Front cards serve multiple purposes:
1. The main text. This may be fire, move, lay smoke, conceal, sniper, cower, wire, rally, hero and the various terrains. The back side of a card can always be played as open terrain

2. Secondary text which may enhance a cards main text or cause an event: breeze, flank, ford, radio

3. RNC (Random Number Card) Draws. The random numbers range from 0-6 and are either red or black, a random number check is used to resolve a multitude of actions.

[For example: a group is trying to cross a stream. The group must play a Movement card sideways (this indicates a lateral move which does not change that group's range). If the Movement card also says" Ford" then the group successfully crosses the stream. However, if the Movement card does not say "Ford" (like most Movement cards) then the group has to then draw an RNC. If it is any black number, then the group successfully crosses the stream and the Movement card remains on that group; however, if the RNC is red, then the group was unsuccessful and must then D/C the Movement card and consequently try again on a later turn.]

RPC (Random Position Card) Checks. A multitude of resolutions require an RPC check; this is a little harder to explain. At the bottom of every card there are 10 columns (numbered 1-10). Within each coloumn, there is a single random number in which the value of that number will not exceed the value of its column. Also These numbers are red or black.

[Example: A player discards a Sniper card and declares it will be used on his opponent's Group B. This group contains 4 individual soldiers. To determine who gets pegged by the sniper, an RPC is drawn. The number under the "4" column is used to determine which soldier has to undergo the Sniper attack. The "4" column is used because there are 4 individuals in that group.]

So that is a brief outline to give an idea of what Up Front is all about

The good:
-Extremely versatile which makes every game different, even when playing the same scenarios over
-Lots and lots actions available to your squad members, which makes Up Front a game of significant depth requiring lots of tough decisions
-Very fast-paced with little down time, plays in an hour or 2
-Very portable with minimal set up time, which makes a great travel game
-Rules are learned in stages to help alleviate the learning curve.
-Downright fun and exciting to play; to me, this is one of those games, that just clicks for me. Conversely, there are games which seem great and supercool, but for some reason, I just don't want to play them that much (perfect examples are Descent: Jouneys in the Dark, A Victory Lost). Up Front is one of the few games that never gets old and I would play anytime anyday.

The Bad:
-Sadly out of print. I fail to see why MMP or some other company does not reprint this gem. Since everything is in the form of cards and chits, there really wouldn't be a significant production cost. Furthermore, there really seems to be a demand for it.

-Rulebook. This seems to be the bane of the game for a lot of people. As with most AH games, the rules are very very dry and cluttered with unnecessary verbage. When first trying to read Up Front rules, my first reaction was that it was too much of a chore. However, getting to the first scenario wasn't really that bad at all, and after awhile you see a lot of common patterns in the rules. This in turn makes all these numerous actions less difficult to remember. I also made a comprehensive 12 page rules summary, which basically summarizes every rule in an easy to remember formats (in my opinion at least)

-Errata. Ok, like most gamers, I hate Errata. Unfortunately there is enough errata here to make me gripe a bit. Luckily, there is a huge (and hence somewhat depressing) list of corrections in which there is a link to in the files section. Sadly, there are some very significant rule errors, which I would never have guessed without looking at that file. I incoorperated those into my player aid

-Unforseen situations. Like a lot of complex games, unforseen situations may arise that are not accounted for in the rules. Luckilly they all seem somewhat esoteric and seem to be addressed in the above mentioned file. It is mind boggling which crazy situations proposed, things I would never have even thought about about.

My final 2 cents
Despite my negativity regarding the rules and the errata, I would not let those issues be a major deterrent. As I have said, despite these short-comings, Up Front is definitely one of my all time favorite games. Forget all the fluff and eye candy seen with these newer games (ok, I admit it, Tide of Iron also a really cool game). If what you have read sounds appealling then it would be worth getting a nice used copy; it doesn't seem like a reprint is going to happen in the near future

Enjoy