From: rbr@well.sf.ca.us (Bob Rossney)
Subject: Up Front Card Distribution
Organization: Whole Earth 'Lectronic Link
Date: Mon, 16 Nov 1992 02:50:22 GMT


After all the recent raving in r.g.b about Up Front, I went out and got
a copy this weekend.  It's a pretty cool game, all right, though rather
rule-dense for my tastes.

The rules don't include any kind of breakdown of the categories of cards,
or of RNC distribution, or anything else; AH just tells us that there
are 162 cards.  Well, I had a free afternoon, so I compiled the following
information, which Up Front players may find useful.


RNC Distribution
================
There are equal numbers of black and red cards of each denomination.  The
breakdown by number is:

   0 - 22 each red and black
   1 - 18 ditto
   2 - 14 ditto
   3 - 11 ditto
   4 -  8 ditto
   5 -  5 ditto
   6 -  3 ditto


Type Distribution
=================
Broadly, the 162 cards fall into the following categories:

   Fire       48 (see below)
   Terrain    35 (see below)
   Movement   24 (incl. 6 Ford and 4 Flank)
   Rally      18 (see below)
   Split      17 (see below)
   Concealed  11 (6 -1, 3 -2, 2 -3)
   Sniper      4
   Wire        3
   Hero        2


Fire Cards
==========
The 48 fire cards, broken down by Fire Strength, are:

   Strength   Firepower Required      Total
   --------   ---------------------   -----
      1       2 each of 1-4, 1 of 5      9
      2       1 each of 1-8              8
      3       1 each of 3-9              7
      4       1 each of 7-12             6
      5       1 each of 10-15            6
      6       1 each of 14-18            5
      7       1 each of 15-18            4
      8       1 17 and 2 18's            3


Terrain Cards
=============
The 35 terrain cards are:

   Buildings   8  (4 -2, 4 -3)
   Brush       6
   Woods       5
   Gully       3
   Hill        3
   Wall        3
   Marsh       2
   Stream      2
   Minefield   2
   Pillbox     1


Rally Cards
===========
The 18 rally cards include the Radio and Breeze cards.  9 of them are
Breeze cards and 5 are Radio; one of the Radio can be used only by the US,
and one may not be used by the Germans.  Broken down by rally value, the
cards are:

   1     5
   2     4
   3     3
   4     2
   5     2
   6     1
   All   1


Split Cards
===========
The 17 split cards mean different things to different nationalities:

   USA       7 Cower
             5 Smoke
             3 Rally (2, 3, 4)
             2 Concealed -1

   Germans   5 Rally (1, 1, 2, 3, 4)
             4 Cower
             3 Movement
             3 Concealed (2 -1, 1 -2)
             2 Smoke

   USSR      6 Concealed (4 -1, 2 -2)
             4 Cower
             3 Movement
             2 Rally 1
             2 Concealed -1 / Movement

(There is also one Concealed -1 card that a USSR player may use as either a
Concealed card or a Movement card.  This card is counted as a Concealed
card in these statistics.)

RPC Distribution
================
I'm afraid that I have a life, and so have been unable to do the breakdown
of the RPC numbers that would be required to complete this survey.  I'm
sure there's at least one person in r.g.b willing to tackle this one. ;-)

Bob Rossney
rbr@well.sf.ca.us
Newsgroups: rec.games.board