Monday, 11 June 2012

Fighting in the middle of the road....



 In 1979, Paddy Griffiths developed an urban skirmishing game called 'Young Team' that was aimed at moving away from the traditional wargame rules for low level combat and trying instead to understand and model the combatant's inner personal psychology and will to fight. In this particular case, 'Young Team' was a game created from Glasgow gang fights and based largely on James Patrick's study A Glasgow Gang Observed.


 The Sarrie Heed: or The Young Team Mk III devised by Jim Roche for the Conference of Wargamers 1990 (COW90), is a very playable revision of Paddy's original work and remains one of the reasons why I love my small stash of worn and well read Wargames Developments Annuals. If you ever come across them you will find they make superb reading. Wonderfully eclectic, each one brims with ideas, inspiration, evocative rules plus full or partial game systems.  

The Sarrie Heed  is one such gem, taking up no more than a double page spread at the centre of The WD Annual 1990.  The basic premise of the game as played at COW90, is that late one Saturday night, fuelled up and bellicose, the punters at The Saracen Head spill onto the Gallowgate looking for trouble with the punters from The Quarter Gill. The winner is the 'team' - figure, player, who demonstrates the greatest 'bottle' in the ensuing clash, without getting themselves arrested by the 'polis'.

Naturally the potential of the game doesn't rest there...."Teenage guerillas on the tarmac, Fighting in the middle of the road" (Up Against The Wall, TRB).... with plenty of application for us within a Winter of '79 context, a game is already in preparation as part of our ongoing campaign.

Cheers
Mark
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7 comments:

  1. Anonymous11 June 2012 at 03:31

    Some interesting ideas there- have you seen the film Neds?

    Cheers,

    Pete.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Mark11 June 2012 at 19:41

      Hi Pete

      No. I'm currently reading Chavs: The Demonization of the Working Class by Owen Jones. Recommended on so many levels.

      Cheers

      Delete
  2. Anonymous12 June 2012 at 01:03

    Thanks for the heads up- I'll look out for a copy.

    Neds is worth watching- passes the evening very pleasantly.

    Cheers,

    Pete.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Gavin Syme (GBS)16 June 2012 at 07:51

    Ah reminds me of my youth in Glasgow. I own a copy of 'Young Team' picked up many years ago at a show.

    Urban trouble is certainly an area with growing interest for wargamers.

    My vote is for the Quarter Gill..that is a rough pub.

    Gavin.

    ReplyDelete
  4. George Q16 February 2016 at 08:02

    Hey there! Sorry to post on a several years old post but after your magazine article I've been working through some of your older posts...

    I'm very interested to learn more about "The Young Team" being both a wargamer and a Glasweigan. However I can't find much in the way of anything online - it seems this page and the Civil Disorder rules are the only references I can find to it.

    I'd be interested in hearing more about it, in particular if you knew anywhere I could purchase a copy of said rules online.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Mark16 February 2016 at 08:23

      Hi George, I'm de.lighted you've taken the time to go through the back cintent of this blog. I'll email you a scanned cooy if you can give me an email address. Mark

      Delete
    2. George Q17 February 2016 at 13:12

      Was telling the girlfriend about this last night - she's very amused at the thought of fighting out a Glasgow ned scuffle. I'm sure a guide to painting tartan would work for painting burberry... and I do have those fluorescent Vallejo paints for their tracksuits. :-)

      You can get me on duxcolonel@gmail.com

      Delete

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