James F. Dunnigan (born 8 August 1943) is an author, military-political analyst, Defense and State Department consultant, and

wargame A wargame is a strategy game in which two or more players command opposing armed forces in a realistic simulation of an armed conflict. Wargaming may be played for recreation, to train military officers in the art of strategic thinking, or to s ...

designer currently living in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

Career

Dunnigan was born in

Rockland County, New York Rockland County is the southernmost county on the west side of the Hudson River in the U.S. state of New York. It is part of the New York metropolitan area. It is about from the Bronx at their closest points. The county's population, as of t ...

. After high school, he volunteered for the military instead of waiting to be drafted. From 1961 to 1964, he worked as a repair technician for the Sergeant

ballistic missile A ballistic missile is a type of missile that uses projectile motion to deliver warheads on a target. These weapons are guided only during relatively brief periods—most of the flight is unpowered. Short-range ballistic missiles stay within the ...

; his service included a tour in

Korea Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic o ...

. Afterwards, he attended

Pace University Pace University is a private university with its main campus in New York City and secondary campuses in Westchester County, New York. It was established in 1906 by the brothers Homer St. Clair Pace and Charles A. Pace as a business school. Pace ...

studying accounting, then transferred to

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

, graduating with a degree in

history History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as well ...

in 1970. While still in college, he became involved in wargaming. He designed ''

Jutland Jutland ( da, Jylland ; german: Jütland ; ang, Ēota land ), known anciently as the Cimbric or Cimbrian Peninsula ( la, Cimbricus Chersonesus; da, den Kimbriske Halvø, links=no or ; german: Kimbrische Halbinsel, links=no), is a peninsula of ...

'', which

Avalon Hill Avalon Hill Games Inc. is a game company that publishes wargames and strategic board games. It has also published miniature wargaming rules, role-playing games and sports simulations. It is a subsidiary of Hasbro, and operates under the company ...

published in 1967, following it up with ''

1914 This year saw the beginning of what became known as World War I, after Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir to the Austrian throne was Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, assassinated by Serbian nationalist Gavrilo Princip. It als ...

'' the next year, and ''

PanzerBlitz ''PanzerBlitz'' is a tactical wargames, tactical-scale board wargame published by Avalon Hill in 1970 that simulates armored combat set in the Eastern Front (WWII), Eastern Front of the Second World War. The game is notable for being the first tr ...

'' in 1970, which eventually sold more than 300,000 copies. Meanwhile, Dunnigan had founded his own company, initially known as Poultron Press, and which soon became

Simulations Publications Simulations Publications, Inc. (SPI) was an American publisher of board wargames and related magazines, particularly its flagship ''Strategy & Tactics'', in the 1970s and early 1980s. It produced an enormous number of games and introduced innovat ...

Inc. (SPI). Dunnigan created SPI in order to save the magazine '' Strategy & Tactics'', which was published by Chris Wagner. Dunnigan had been a contributor to the magazine since ''Strategy & Tactics'' #2 (February 1967), and when Wagner was having financial difficulties with the magazine he sold Dunningan the rights for $1. Dunnigan set up shop in a windowless basement in New York City's Lower East Side, and published his first issue from there, ''Strategy & Tactics'' #18 (September 1969); starting with that issue, every issue included a new wargame. Dunnigan also designed the game '' Sniper!'' (1973) . Dunnigan later designed '' Dallas: The Television Role-Playing Game'' (1980), the first ever licensed role-playing game. In 1980, Dunnigan was forced out of SPI due to the company's worsening financial situation. He left SPI to write more books, begin modeling financial markets, and pursue other projects. Between 1966 and 1992, he designed over 100 wargames and other conflict simulations, ranging from 1969's ''Up Against the Wall, Motherfucker'' about the student takeover at Columbia (which he witnessed as a bystanderAccording to Dunnigan he was a student at Columbia University that season and, although he has not participated in the action, several of his friends did. Some of these worked in the school newspaper and asked Dunnigan to make a game for the first anniversary of ''The Spectator''. Quoted in ), to the gigantic '' War in Europe'', to the online ''Hundred Years War'' with his long time partners

Albert Nofi Albert A. Nofi (born January 6, 1944), is an American military historian, defense analyst, and designer of board and computer wargaming systems. Early life A native of Brooklyn, he attended New York City public schools, graduating from the Boys' ...

and Daniel Masterson, which has been running since 1992. In 1979, he wrote '' The Complete Wargames Handbook'' (first edition), and in 1980 ''How to Make War''. Dunnigan contributed to

Three-Sixty Pacific Three-Sixty Pacific is an American video game publisher and developer. Founded in the late 1980s by avid wargamers and military history enthusiasts, they were acquired by IntraCorp Entertainment Inc. in 1994. Games They have developed the most ...

's ''Victory at Sea'' but, he claimed, was not allowed to finish the computer wargame's design, although it was advertised as "James F. Dunnigan's ''Victory at Sea''". With his partners from the '' Hundred Years War'', Daniel Masterson and

, Dunnigan founded the online military news sit
StrategyPage
in 1999, of which he is the editor-in-chief. Podcasts of his commentaries on history, military affairs, and the contemporary world are regularly posted on StrategyPage.Com and as at

Instapundit.com Instapundit is a blog maintained by Glenn Reynolds, a law professor at the University of Tennessee. History and characteristics InstaPundit was launched in August 2001 as an experiment, and a part of Reynolds' class on Internet law. After the Sep ...

Dunnigan regularly lectures at military and academic institutions, such as the Chief of Naval Operations Strategic Studies Group, in Newport, Rhode Island.

Awards/recognition

In 1975, Dunnigan was inducted into the Charles Roberts Awards Hall of Fame. In 1999 ''

Pyramid A pyramid (from el, πυραμίς ') is a structure whose outer surfaces are triangular and converge to a single step at the top, making the shape roughly a pyramid in the geometric sense. The base of a pyramid can be trilateral, quadrilat ...

'' magazine named him as one of the millennium's most influential persons "at least in the realm of adventure gaming". He was honored as a "famous game designer" by being featured on the king of diamonds in Flying Buffalo's 2008 Famous Game Designers Playing Card Deck.

Books

* '' The Complete Wargames Handbook'', first edition, 1979 ** ''The Complete Wargames Handbook: How to Play, Design and Find Them'', Revised edition, William Morrow, 1992. .
online version
** ''Wargames Handbook: How to Play and Design Commercial and Professional Wargames'', Third edition, 2000. . * ''How To Make War: A Comprehensive Guide To Modern Warfare'', first edition, 1983 ** ''How to Make War: A Comprehensive Guide to Modern Warfare for the Post-Cold War Era'', 3rd edition, William Morrow, 1993. . ** ''How to Make War: A Comprehensive Guide to Modern Warfare in the Twenty-first Century'', 4th edition, HarperCollins, 2003. * ''Digital Soldiers'', St. Martin's, 1996. . * ''Dirty Little Secrets of the 20th Century: Myths, Misinformation, and Unknown Truths About the 20th Century'', William Morrow, 1999. . * ''The Perfect Soldier''. Citadel, 2004. .

Co-author

;As editor and co-author :* ''The Russian Front: Germany's War in the East, 1941-45'' (also published as ''The Russian Campaign''), Arms and Armour, 1978. . ;With William Martel :* ''How to Stop a War: The Lessons of Two Hundred Years of War and Peace'', Doubleday, 1987. . ;With Austin Bay :* ''From Shield to Storm: High-Tech Weapons, Military Strategy and Coalition Warfare in the Persian Gulf'', William Morrow, 1991. . :* ''A Quick & Dirty Guide to War: Briefings on Present and Potential Wars'', 4th edition, Paladin, 2008. . ;With

:*''Shooting Blanks: War Making That Doesn't Work'', 1991. . :* ''Medieval Life and the Hundred Years War''
200,000 word online book
1994) :* ''Dirty Little Secrets of World War II: Military Information No One Told You About the Greatest, Most Terrible War in History'', William Morrow, 1994. . :* ''Victory at Sea: World War II in the Pacific'', William Morrow, 1995. . :* ''The Pacific War Encyclopedia'', Facts on File, 1998. . :* ''Dirty Little Secrets: American Military Information You're Not Supposed to Know'', St. Martins Press, 1999. . :* ''Victory and Deceit: Deception and Trickery at War'', 2nd edition, Writers Club, 2001. . :* ''Dirty Little Secrets of the Vietnam War: Military Information You're Not Supposed to Know'', St. Martins Griffin, 2001. . ;With Daniel Masterson :* ''The Way of the Warrior: Business Tactics and Techniques from History's Twelve Greatest Generals'', St. Martin's Griffin, 1998. . ;With Raymond M. Macedonia :* ''Getting It Right: American Military Reforms After Vietnam to the Gulf War and Beyond'', 2nd edition, Writers Club, 2001. .

Other works

* (contributor) '' Wargame Design: The History, Production, and Use of Conflict Simulations'', Simulations Publications, 1977. . * Foreword to H.G. Wells's ''Floor Games'' (

Skirmisher Skirmishers are light infantry or light cavalry soldiers deployed as a vanguard, flank guard or rearguard to screen a tactical position or a larger body of friendly troops from enemy advances. They are usually deployed in a skirmish line, an ir ...

, 2006)

Games

*''

'' (1967) *''

'' (1968) *'' 1918'' (1969) *''

Anzio Beachhead The Battle of Anzio was a battle of the Italian Campaign of World War II that took place from January 22, 1944 (beginning with the Allied amphibious landing known as Operation Shingle) to June 5, 1944 (ending with the capture of Rome). The op ...

'' (1969) *''

Barbarossa Barbarossa, a name meaning "red beard" in Italian, primarily refers to: * Frederick Barbarossa (1122–1190), Holy Roman Emperor * Hayreddin Barbarossa (c. 1478–1546), Ottoman admiral * Operation Barbarossa, the Axis invasion of the Soviet Un ...

'' (1969) *''

Crete Crete ( el, Κρήτη, translit=, Modern: , Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the 88th largest island in the world and the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, Sardinia, Cyprus, ...

'' (1969) *''

Deployment Deployment may refer to: Engineering and software Concepts * Blue-green deployment, a method of installing changes to a web, app, or database server by swapping alternating production and staging servers * Continuous deployment, a software e ...

'' (1969) *''

Flying Fortress The Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress is a four-engined heavy bomber developed in the 1930s for the United States Army Air Corps (USAAC). Relatively fast and high-flying for a bomber of its era, the B-17 was used primarily in the European Theater ...

'' (1969) *''

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

'' (1969) *''

Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as ...

'' (1969) *''

Normandy Normandy (; french: link=no, Normandie ; nrf, Normaundie, Nouormandie ; from Old French , plural of ''Normant'', originally from the word for "northman" in several Scandinavian languages) is a geographical and cultural region in Northwestern ...

'' (1969) *'' Tannenberg'' (1969) *''Up Against the Wall, Motherfucker'' (1969) *''

Bastogne Bastogne (; nl, Bastenaken, ; german: Bastnach/Bastenach; lb, Baaschtnech) is a city and municipality of Wallonia located in the province of Luxembourg in the Ardennes, Belgium. The municipality consists of the following districts: Bastogn ...

'' (1970) *'' Chicago, Chicago!'' (1970) *''

'' (1970) *'' Grenadier'' (1971) *''

Kursk Kursk ( rus, Курск, p=ˈkursk) is a city and the administrative center of Kursk Oblast, Russia, located at the confluence of the Kur, Tuskar, and Seym rivers. The area around Kursk was the site of a turning point in the Soviet–German stru ...

'' (1971) *'' Lost Battles'' (1971) *'' Origins of World War II'' (1971) *'' Strategy I'' (1971) *'' USN'' (1971) *''The Next President'' (1971) *''

American Revolution The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revoluti ...

'' (1972) *''

Breakout and Pursuit Breakout or Break Out may refer to: Narratives * Breakout character * Breakthrough role, also known as a "breakout role" Television * ''Breakout'' (Singaporean TV series), a 2010–2011 Singaporean TV drama broadcast by MediaCorp Channel 8 * ' ...

'' (1972) *''

Combat Command A combat command was a combined-arms military organization of comparable size to a brigade or regiment employed by armored forces of the United States Army from 1942 until 1963. The structure of combat commands was task-organized and so the force ...

'' (1972) *''

Flying Circus Barnstorming was a form of entertainment in which stunt pilots performed tricks individually or in groups that were called flying circuses. Devised to "impress people with the skill of pilots and the sturdiness of planes," it became popular in ...

'' (1972) *'' France '40'' (1972) *'' Franco-Prussian War'' (1972) *'' Moscow Campaign'' (1972) *''

Origins of World War I The identification of the causes of World War I remains controversial. World War I began in the Balkans on July 28, 1914, and hostilities ended on November 11, 1918, leaving 17 million dead and 25 million wounded. Moreover, the Russian Civil ...

'' (1972) *''

Outdoor Survival ''Outdoor Survival'' was a board game published by Avalon Hill in 1972. Rules ''Outdoor Survival'' is a hex-based board game played on three interlocking maps. Publication history ''Outdoor Survival'' was designed by Jim Dunnigan, and published ...

'' (1972) *'' Red Star/White Star'' (1972) *''

Turning Point A turning point, or climax, is the point of highest tension in a narrative work. Turning Point or Turning Points may refer to: Film * ''The Turning Point'', a 1914 silent film starring Caroline Cooke * ''The Turning Point'' (1920 film), an Ame ...

'' (1972) *''

Wilderness Campaign The Overland Campaign, also known as Grant's Overland Campaign and the Wilderness Campaign, was a series of battles fought in Virginia during May and June 1864, in the American Civil War. Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, general-in-chief of all Unio ...

'' (1972) *'' Year of the Rat'' (1972) *''

Ardennes Offensive The Battle of the Bulge, also known as the Ardennes Offensive, was the last major German offensive campaign on the Western Front during World War II. The battle lasted from 16 December 1944 to 28 January 1945, towards the end of the war in ...

'' (1973) *'' Battles of Bull Run'' (1973) *'' CA'' (1973) *'' Desert War'' (1973) *'' El Alamein'' (1973) *'' Foxbat & Phantom'' (1973) *'' Kampfpanzer'' (1973) *''

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

'' (1973) *'' Napoleon at Waterloo'' (1973) *'' Panzer Armee Afrika'' (1973) *'' Scrimmage'' (1973) *'' Sinai'' (1973) *'' Sniper!'' (1973) *''

Solomons Campaign The Solomon Islands campaign was a major campaign of the Pacific War of World War II. The campaign began with Japanese landings and occupation of several areas in the British Solomon Islands and Bougainville, in the Territory of New Guinea, ...

'' (1973) *''

Spitfire The Supermarine Spitfire is a British single-seat fighter aircraft used by the Royal Air Force and other Allied countries before, during, and after World War II. Many variants of the Spitfire were built, from the Mk 1 to the Rolls-Royce Grif ...

'' (1973) *''

World War Two World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

'' (1973) *''

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states ...

'' (1974) *''

Combined Arms Combined arms is an approach to warfare that seeks to integrate different combat arms of a military to achieve mutually complementary effects (for example by using infantry and armour in an urban environment in which each supports the other) ...

'' (1974) *'' Frigate'' (1974) *''

Operation Olympic Operation Downfall was the proposed Allied plan for the invasion of the Japanese home islands near the end of World War II. The planned operation was canceled when Japan surrendered following the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, ...

'' (1974) *'' Patrol'' (1974) *''

Tank A tank is an armoured fighting vehicle intended as a primary offensive weapon in front-line ground combat. Tank designs are a balance of heavy firepower, strong armour, and good battlefield mobility provided by tracks and a powerful engi ...

'' (1974) *'' The East is Red'' (1974) *'' War in the East'' (1974) *'' Wolfpack'' (1974) *'' Battle for Germany'' (1975) *''

Global War A world war is an international conflict which involves all or most of the world's major powers. Conventionally, the term is reserved for two major international conflicts that occurred during the first half of the 20th century, World WarI (1914 ...

'' (1975) *''

Invasion America ''Invasion America'' is a 1998 American animated science fiction series that aired in the prime time lineup on The WB. Produced by DreamWorks Television Animation (then part of DreamWorks proper, now owned by Universal Studios), the series was ...

'' (1975) *'' Mech War '77'' (1975) *'' Oil War'' (1975) *'' Panzer '44'' (1975) *'' Sixth Fleet'' (1975) *''

The Fast Carriers ''The Fast Carriers'', subtitled "Air-Sea Operations, 1941–77" is a board wargame published by Simulations Publications Inc. (SPI) in 1975 that simulates naval combat involving aircraft carriers from 1941 to the mid-1970s. Description ''Fast ...

'' (1975) *''

War in the Pacific The Pacific War, sometimes called the Asia–Pacific War, was the theater of World War II that was fought in Asia, the Pacific Ocean, the Indian Ocean, and Oceania. It was geographically the largest theater of the war, including the vast ...

'' (1975) *'' World War 3'' (1975) *''

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

'' (1975) *'' Wurzburg'' (1975) *'' FireFight'' (1976) *'' Panzergruppe Guderian'' (1976) *'' Plot to Assassinate Hitler'' (1976) *'' Minuteman: The Second American Revolution'' (1976) *''

Revolt in the East ''Revolt in the East'', subtitled "Warsaw Pact Rebellion in the 1970's", is a Cold War-themed board wargame published by Simulations Publications Inc. (SPI) in 1976 that simulates a hypothetical rebellion of Warsaw Pact states against the Soviet ...

'' (1976) *''

Russian Civil War {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Russian Civil War , partof = the Russian Revolution and the aftermath of World War I , image = , caption = Clockwise from top left: {{flatlist, *Soldiers ...

'' (1976) *'' Strike Force'' (1976) *'' War in Europe'' (1976) *'' War in the West'' (1976) *'' Fulda Gap'' (1977) *'' Agincourt'' (1978) *'' Brusilov'' (1978) *'' Canadian Civil War'' (1978) *'' The Next War'' (1978) *''

Bulge __NOTOC__ Bulge may refer to: Astronomy and geography *Bulge (astronomy), a tightly packed group of stars at the center of a spiral galaxy *Equatorial bulge, a bulge around the equator of a planet due to rotation * Tharsis bulge, vast volcanic pl ...

'' (1979) *'' Berlin '85'' (1980) *''

Dallas Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...

'' (1980) *'' Demons'' (1980) *'' Drive on Metz'' (1980) *'' Empires of the Middle Ages'' (1980) *'' Fifth Corps'' (1980) *'' NATO Division Commander'' (1980) *'' TimeTripper'' (1980) *''

Wreck of the Pandora ''The Wreck of the B.S.M. Pandora'' is a science fiction board game published by Simulations Publications, Inc. (SPI) in 1980. Description The B.S.M. Pandora, a biological survey mission space ship in the distant future, has crash-landed on a p ...

'' (1980) *'' Light Infantry Division'' (1985) *''

Tactical Combat Model Tactic(s) or Tactical may refer to: * Tactic (method), a conceptual action implemented as one or more specific tasks ** Military tactics, the disposition and maneuver of units on a particular sea or battlefield ** Chess tactics ** Political tacti ...

'' (1985) *'' Men-At-Arms'' (1990) *'' Hundred Years War'' (1992) *'' Victory at Sea'' (1992)

Notes

References

External links

James F. Dunnigan homepage
*
StrategyPage
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dunnigan, Jim Board game designers American military writers 1943 births Living people United States Army soldiers American company founders Columbia University School of General Studies alumni