More than anything else, this report needs to begin by honoring this year's Champion: John Emery. Five, 5, Cinque, Fünf, Cinq, V, ____ Championships. This one gained without a single loss in Eight Rounds. As "THEY" say on "THAT" machine, an unbelievable, fantastic, awesome, never before seen, stupendous, .

Thirty folks collided on Thursday at 9 am and when the dust settled at 10 pm the contest was ended. After five rounds of Swiss, the top eight met in a single elimination gauntlet. The tournament used the same format popularized in last year's event. There were a wide variety of Scenarios played (A, B, C, E, F, H, I, L, M, N, U) with the most popular being B and L with 14 each. This year the French and Italians failed to make the convention in any of the 162 games played.

The winning quote of the event: "I Fired. I Pinned. He Never Rallied. I Won." (Bari Herman). So if you ever have any doubts as to how to succeed at Up Front, there is the formula for victory.

The Award for the fastest loss in the single elimination goes to Ray Stakenas Sr who was crushed by Ray Stakenas Jr attacking as the German vs the American. Time to demise = 172 Cards. Comments have been heavily edited

The Award for the most troublesome card played in the single elimination goes to the "WIRE CARD". Clearly, these contests took place in the dry season.

The final match between Bari Herman and John Emery was a classic nail-biter. Scenario L, the grand crowd pleaser, with Bari as the German attacking John as the American. Early sparing and halftrack action left the American with only four of nine personalities remaining. The American mortar spent most of deck 2 under a double wire. The kiss of death? Nope. It did put such a strain on the tube that it jammed for good in deck 3 as John drew back to back red sixes for a mortar fire and then repair. With the Americans in tough shape, the Germans did their best to close ground to achieve the victory conditions but came up short. Missing from all the fierce action were any successful Artillery attacks by the Germans, a shortage of Rally cards for the Americans, as stated an American Mortar that was effectively silenced from the end of deck 1, and for both sides the right fire card at the critical moment.