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Cityfight: Modern Combat in the Urban Environment was an incredibly innovative tactical wargame published by SPI in 1979. I played it a lot when I was in high school, but it is only now in my mid-40s, and thanks to the magic that is BGG, that I finally got the biggest in-joke in wargaming that I've ever seen.
I happened to be perusing the City Fight countersheets tonight, looking over the NATO leader counters, and this one caught my eye:
That's amusing, I thought. Purely a coincidence that the name sounds like this guy's:
And then my eyes drifted a bit lower down the sheet and I came across this:
Stiv Bators? Lead singer of the classic punk band The Dead Boys?
Whoa! When was this published? 1979? Now things are starting to make sense..this ain't no coincidence!
And so here they all are. The coolest lineup of in-joke wargame names that I've ever come across.
Richard Hell. Lead singer of the Voidoids. (edit: and a founding member of the influential band Television, lest we forget!)
Nick Lowe. Legendary New Wave singer/songwriter/producer and collaborator with Elvis Costello.
Bruce Foxton, bassist for The Jam.
Paul Simonon, bassist for The Clash. Here spelled as 'Simonen'. A reference to Redmond Simonsen?
Topper Headon, drummer for The Clash.
"Little Steven" Van Zandt. Guitarist for the E-Street Band.
(edit)It could also be possibly referring to Townes Van Zandt, influential folk/country singer/songwriter much admired by Bob Dylan.
Hugh Cornwell. Lead singer of The Stranglers.
J.J. Burnel, Stranglers bass guitarist (here spelled Burnell).
Paul Cook, drummer of The Sex Pistols.
This one's likely a reference to Steve Jones, Sex Pistols guitarist.
(edit)Dammit, I almost missed it -- 'Jones', of course, would also be referring to Mick Jones, lead guitarist of The Clash, and the McCartney to Strummer's Lennon. A clever twofer on the part of the designer.
John Lydon, aka Johnny Rotten. Lead singer of The Sex Pistols and Public Image, Ltd.
John Cale. One of the founding members of The Velvet Underground. (edit) And producer of the Modern Lovers!
This one's likely a reference to Robert Zimmerman, aka Bob Dylan. (edit: This counter appears to refer to someone else based on personal info related to playtesters; see thread)
And, yes, even Sting seems to be making an appearance. (edit: This counter appears to refer to someone else based on personal info related to playtesters; see thread)
I may have missed a few more, but man, this sure brought a smile to this aging punkster.
SPI, you were the best!
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Kev.
United States
Austin
Texas
TheBigBoard-Blog www.meshtime.com
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love this game and still own two copies of it.
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Darth Pete
Australia
Fitzroy North
Victoria
Dum, dum, dah, dah dah
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Cool.
Could V. Zandt be Townes Van Zandt?
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petegs wrote: Cool. Could V. Zandt be Townes Van Zandt?
I was wondering about that too.
(edit)Just revised the entry to reflect that! 
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Enrico Viglino
United States
Phoenix, AZ
Arizona
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Not the first game fulla puns SPI put out,
but damn, this one's the coolest.
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Robert Hawkins
United States
Mooresville
North Carolina
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Nice work...would've never known. I, too, loved this game back in the day but lost the rules at school! Who the heck wouldn't return City-Fight rules?!?! There were only 5 or 6 known wargamers in our small school... Still watching for a decent copy on eBay.
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Erik Nicely
United States
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Those counter names are one hell of a cool find. Making that kind of statement in 1979 seems more significant than it would if it happened today. The developer or designer (whoever assigned those names) was listening to music that was still on the fringe. Punk and ska weren't something some hipster could score internet cool points by talking about or listening to, this was lifestyle music. In an SPI game no less. When I think about SPI contributors the image that comes to mind is straight-laced old guys in bad 70s clothes, not 70's punk rockers.
The Voidoids? Are you kidding me? Killer find, Peter.
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Enrico Viglino
United States
Phoenix, AZ
Arizona
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A lot of the younger designers in that period were
VERY young. In this case though, we have Joseph M. Balkoski,
who was 25, and Stephen A. Donaldson at 33 - which seems a
bit old for the genre, UNTIL you read his bio here:
Quote: Stephen A. Donaldson, also known as Robert Anthony Martin, Jr. and Donny the Punk
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Steve Arthur
Australia
New South Wales
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I don't think I'd like Lydon backing me in a tight situation,but Strummer on the other hand...
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I just woke up in the middle of night with the thought 'Jones...waitaminnit! --- that's gotta be Mick Jones too!!' They've got every other Clash member in there. I've edited appropriately.
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M@tthijs
Netherlands
NOT
Holland
Earn tons of geekgold:...
...go to VGG and add videogames to the database
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Harkonnen13 wrote: When I think about SPI contributors the image that comes to mind is straight-laced old guys in bad 70s clothes, not 70's punk rockers. That's what the wargamers look like now. Even punkers age.
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Richard Hecker
Australia
Melbourne
Victoria
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What a rich vein of punnery!
Do the troops load their Celebate Rifles with Magazine/s?
Do the use nightsights, or prefer X-Ray Spex?
When the Suicide Commandos are in trouble, do they Radio Birdman?
Move more quickly than the The Minutemen in sending a Rocket to Russia
, or just keep reading Search and Destroy?
Later at night there is the Joy Division...
Now for those with wit and cleverness to take over.
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Roger Hobden
Canada
Montreal
Quebec
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Good Eye !
Congratulations.
Now where is my copy of Cityfight: Modern Combat in the Urban Environment ? 
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Robert Ridgeway
United States
Greenville
South Carolina
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No such LUV for hippies...
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I've been trying to place this one:
And it just occurred to me that this is most likely to be referring to Patti Smith, fiery poetess and singer/songwriter, a contemporary of Richard Hell in the 1970s NYC punk scene.
It could also be referring to Fred 'Sonic' Smith, MC5 guitarist and later husband of Patti Smith.
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Michael Ross
Scotland
Motherwell
Lanarkshire
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Fantastic find.
I've got a copy of this somewhere in my lofy, will have to dig it out for some mixed rock'n'roll and old school wargaming nostalgia.
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And how could I miss this one?
Jet Black, enigmatic drummer of The Stranglers.
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Jim F
United Kingdom
Birmingham
West Midlands
HRC - His Royal Cheekiness, Rajah Babu
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Aka, the Guildford Stranglers (an earlier less cool incarnation, can't think why they changed it) but incorporating the town of my birth and where jjb apparently went to the local grammar school until kicked out. Heard various versions of that.
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Wendell
United States
Arlington
Virginia
All the little chicks with crimson lips, go...
Hey, get your stinking cursor off my face! I got nukes, you know.
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Never even heard of that game - but very cool names!
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Jon Williamson
Canada
Calgary
AB
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I can honestly say I never thought I would see the day when "The Stranglers" were mentioned on BGG. LOL!
Thanks for the memories Peter. You, sir, know your music!
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Gerry Palmer
United States
St. Louis
Missouri
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My brother was a playtester for this game. He passed a few years ago so I can't ask him or verify but on a couple of these, I think you might be mistaken.
I recall that because they playtested, they got to submit names for the counters. The "Zimmer" and "Stinger" counters are the last names of two of his best friends who were not wargamers. That seems to make sense to me given that Zimmerman and Sting were a stretch anyway. I do know that he would have had nothing to do with any punk rock references since the Rolling Stones are about as non-commercial as his rock and roll tastes ventured.
So my guess is that another playtest group who WERE punk music fans probably sent in all of those names that you mentioned.
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Clinton Smith
United States
Port Arthur
Texas
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One of the scenarios in the game is called "London's Burning". Here's the introduction:
"This scenario is a riot. It all starts off with a big mob at a punk rock concert in the Hammerscythe Palace, fired up by one of the better groups, and sent out into the world with the urge to burn...
It is the punks' objective to burn, loot, and pillage. It is the police objective to contain the mayhem. It is the players' objective to have fun."
That one might make an entertaining session report.
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The remaining NATO leader counter names are:
Grimm, Gerber, Holmstrom, Schmidt, Pittman, Pursey, Fiddler, Erlanger, Robinson, Stuart, and Hahn. I can't make any rock connections with these names ('Smokey' Robinson? Too middle-of-the-road -- doesn't fit in with the overall punkiness of the rest.) I think that, if anything, these names probably had some personal significance to the designer or whoever assigned these names. If you can link any of those names to rock n' roll, post it here!
As for the Soviets, no rock-related names there as far as I could tell, but a some well-known Soviet/Russian characters:
Gagarin (likely Yuri Gagarin)
Zarkov (likey Dr. Hans Zarkov, character from 'Flash Gordon')
Lem (Stanislaw Lem, Polish science fiction writer)
Kuryakin (Ilya Kuryakin, lead character in 'Man from U.N.C.L.E.')
Chekhov (either playwright Anton Chekhov, or Mr. Chekhov from 'Star Trek')
Bakunin (likely Mikhail Bakunin, Russian anarchist)
The rest of the Soviet counter names I can't place.
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Gerry Palmer
United States
St. Louis
Missouri
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Well, that shoots down my theory that it was a playtest group. Must have been one or more of the designers/developers. Rock on! :cool:
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Whoever it was must have been a big Bruce Foxton fan. I mean, if you're going to have someone in The Jam in that mix, shouldn't it be 'Weller' ?
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Posted Fri Oct 28, 2011 4:06 am
