Jim Dunnigan
Encyclopedia
James F. Dunnigan is an author, military-political analyst, Defense and State Department consultant, and wargame
designer currently living in New York City
, notable for his matter-of-fact approach to military analysis.
. 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
, which included a tour in Korea
. Afterwards, he attended Pace University
studying accounting, then transferred to Columbia University
, graduating with a degree in history
in 1970.
While still in college, he became involved in wargaming. He designed Jutland
, which Avalon Hill
published in 1967, following it up with 1914
the next year, and PanzerBlitz
in 1970, which eventually sold half a million copies. Meanwhile, he had founded his own company, Simulations Publications
Inc. (SPI), which issued games and published the magazine
Strategy & Tactics
.
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 bystander), to the gigantic War in Europe, to the online Hundred Years' War, which has been running since 1992.
In 1979, he wrote The Complete Wargames Handbook, and in 1980 How to Make War.
In addition to writing, Dunnigan is a principal in StrategyWorld.Com and the chief editor of StrategyPage.Com. Podcasts of his commentaries on history, military affairs, and the contemporary world are regularly posted on StrategyPage.Com and as at Instapundit.com
Dunnigan regularly lectures at military and academic institutions, such as the Chief of Naval Operations Strategic Studies Group http://www.nwc.navy.mil/newportlinks/ssg/overview.aspx, in Newport, Rhode Island, Georgia Institute of Technology
, the Air War College
, and the New York Military Affairs Symposium, and frequently appears on television
as a commentator on military subjects.
magazine named him as one of the millennium's most influential persons "at least in the realm of adventure gaming".
Wargaming
A wargame is a strategy game that deals with military operations of various types, real or fictional. Wargaming is the hobby dedicated to the play of such games, which can also be called conflict simulations, or consims for short. When used professionally to study warfare, it is generally known as...
designer currently living in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, notable for his matter-of-fact approach to military analysis.
Career
He was born in Rockland County, New YorkRockland County, New York
Rockland County is a suburban county 15 miles to the northwest of Manhattan and part of the New York City Metropolitan Area, in the U.S. state of New York. It is the southernmost county in New York west of the Hudson River, and the smallest county in New York outside of New York City. The...
. 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
MGM-29 Sergeant
The MGM-29 Sergeant was an American short-range, solid fuel, surface-to-surface missile developed at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Activated by the US Army in 1962 to replace the MGM-5 Corporal it was deployed overseas by 1963, carrying the W52 nuclear warhead or alternatively one of high explosives...
ballistic missile
Ballistic missile
A ballistic missile is a missile that follows a sub-orbital ballistic flightpath with the objective of delivering one or more warheads to a predetermined target. The missile is only guided during the relatively brief initial powered phase of flight and its course is subsequently governed by the...
, which included a tour in Korea
Korea
Korea ) is an East Asian geographic region that is currently divided into two separate sovereign states — North Korea and South Korea. Located on the Korean Peninsula, Korea is bordered by the People's Republic of China to the northwest, Russia to the northeast, and is separated from Japan to the...
. Afterwards, he attended Pace University
Pace University
Pace University is an American private, co-educational, and comprehensive multi-campus university in the New York metropolitan area with campuses in New York City and Westchester County, New York.-Programs:...
studying accounting, then transferred to Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
, graduating with a degree in history
History
History is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians...
in 1970.
While still in college, he became involved in wargaming. He designed Jutland
Jutland (game)
Jutland is a wargame designed by Jim Dunnigan and published by Avalon Hill Game Company in 1967. The game covers the Battle of Jutland, fought in May and June 1916 between the British Grand Fleet and the German High Seas Fleet off the Jutland coast of Denmark.The game is unusual for an Avalon Hill...
, which Avalon Hill
Avalon Hill
Avalon Hill was a game company that specialized in wargames and strategic board games. Its logo contained its initials "AH", and it was often referred to by this abbreviation. It also published the occasional miniature wargaming rules, role-playing game, and had a popular line of sports simulations...
published in 1967, following it up with 1914
1914 (game)
1914 was a board wargame published by the Avalon Hill game company in 1968 and designed by James F. Dunnigan. It was a corps-level simulation of the first few weeks of World War I on the western front...
the next year, and PanzerBlitz
PanzerBlitz
PanzerBlitz is a tactical-scale board wargame of armoured combat set in the Eastern Front of the Second World War. The game is notable for being the first true board-based tactical-level, commercially available conflict simulation...
in 1970, which eventually sold half a million copies. Meanwhile, he had founded his own company, Simulations Publications
Simulations Publications
Simulations Publications, Inc. was an influential American publisher of board wargames and related magazines, particularly its flagship Strategy & Tactics, in the 1970s and early 1980s...
Inc. (SPI), which issued games and published the magazine
Magazine
Magazines, periodicals, glossies or serials are publications, generally published on a regular schedule, containing a variety of articles. They are generally financed by advertising, by a purchase price, by pre-paid magazine subscriptions, or all three...
Strategy & Tactics
Strategy & Tactics
Strategy & Tactics is a wargaming magazine now published by Decision Games, notable for publishing a complete new wargame in each issue...
.
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 bystander), to the gigantic War in Europe, to the online Hundred Years' War, which has been running since 1992.
In 1979, he wrote The Complete Wargames Handbook, and in 1980 How to Make War.
In addition to writing, Dunnigan is a principal in StrategyWorld.Com and the chief editor of StrategyPage.Com. Podcasts of his commentaries on history, military affairs, and the contemporary world are regularly posted on StrategyPage.Com and as at Instapundit.com
Dunnigan regularly lectures at military and academic institutions, such as the Chief of Naval Operations Strategic Studies Group http://www.nwc.navy.mil/newportlinks/ssg/overview.aspx, in Newport, Rhode Island, Georgia Institute of Technology
Georgia Institute of Technology
The Georgia Institute of Technology is a public research university in Atlanta, Georgia, in the United States...
, the Air War College
Air War College
The Air War College is a part of the United States Air Force's Air University, headquartered at Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery, Alabama. Air University's higher headquarters is Air Education and Training Command headquartered at Randolph Air Force Base, San Antonio, Texas. The Air War...
, and the New York Military Affairs Symposium, and frequently appears on television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
as a commentator on military subjects.
Awards/recognition
In 1975, Dunnigan was inducted into the Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts & Design Hall of Fame. In 1999 PyramidPyramid (magazine)
Pyramid is a gaming magazine, publishing articles primarily on role-playing games, but including board games, card games, and other sorts of games. It began life in 1993 as a print publication of Steve Jackson Games for its first 30 issues, though it has been published on the Internet since March...
magazine named him as one of the millennium's most influential persons "at least in the realm of adventure gaming".
Books
- (contributor) Wargame Design: The History, Production and Use of Conflict Simulations, Simulations Publications, 1977. ISBN 0-917852-01-X.
- (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. ISBN 0-85368-152-X.
- (with William MartelWilliam MartelWilliam Martel was a steward of the royal households of King Henry I and King Stephen of England. He was castellan of Sherborne Castle until 1143....
) How to Stop a War: The Lessons of Two Hundred Years of War and Peace, Doubleday, 1987. ISBN 0-385-24009-0. - (with Austin Bay) From Shield to Storm: High-Tech Weapons, Military Strategy and Coalition Warfare in the Persian Gulf, William Morrow, 1991. ISBN 0-688-11034-7.
- (with Albert NofiAlbert NofiAlbert A. Nofi , is an American military historian, defense analyst, and designer of board and computer wargaming systems.A native of Brooklyn, he attended New York City public schools, graduating from the Boys' High School in 1961...
) Shooting Blanks: War Making That Doesn't Work, 1991. ISBN 0-688-08947-X. - The Complete Wargames Handbook: How to Play, Design and Find Them, Revised edition, William Morrow, 1992. ISBN 0-688-10368-5. (online version)
- How to Make War: A Comprehensive Guide to Modern Warfare for the Post-Cold War Era, 3rd edition, William Morrow, 1993. ISBN 0-688-12157-8.
- (with Albert NofiAlbert NofiAlbert A. Nofi , is an American military historian, defense analyst, and designer of board and computer wargaming systems.A native of Brooklyn, he attended New York City public schools, graduating from the Boys' High School in 1961...
) Medieval Life and the Hundred Years War (200,000 word online book, 1994) - (with Albert NofiAlbert NofiAlbert A. Nofi , is an American military historian, defense analyst, and designer of board and computer wargaming systems.A native of Brooklyn, he attended New York City public schools, graduating from the Boys' High School in 1961...
) Dirty Little Secrets of World War II: Military Information No One Told You About the Greatest, Most Terrible War in History, William Morrow, 1994. ISBN 0-688-12235-3. - (with Albert NofiAlbert NofiAlbert A. Nofi , is an American military historian, defense analyst, and designer of board and computer wargaming systems.A native of Brooklyn, he attended New York City public schools, graduating from the Boys' High School in 1961...
) Victory at Sea: World War II in the Pacific, William Morrow, 1995. ISBN 0-688-14947-2. - Digital Soldiers, St. Martin's, 1996. ISBN 0-312-14588-8.
- (with Daniel Masterson) The Way of the Warrior: Business Tactics and Techniques from History's Twelve Greatest Generals, St. Martin's Griffin, 1998. ISBN 0-312-19535-4.
- (with Albert NofiAlbert NofiAlbert A. Nofi , is an American military historian, defense analyst, and designer of board and computer wargaming systems.A native of Brooklyn, he attended New York City public schools, graduating from the Boys' High School in 1961...
) The Pacific War Encyclopedia, Facts on File, 1998. ISBN 0-8160-3439-7. - (with Albert NofiAlbert NofiAlbert A. Nofi , is an American military historian, defense analyst, and designer of board and computer wargaming systems.A native of Brooklyn, he attended New York City public schools, graduating from the Boys' High School in 1961...
) Dirty Little Secrets: American Military Information You're Not Supposed to Know, St. Martins Press, 1999. ISBN 0-312-19857-4. - Dirty Little Secrets of the 20th Century: Myths, Misinformation, and Unknown Truths About the 20th Century, William Morrow, 1999. ISBN 0-688-17068-4.
- (with Albert NofiAlbert NofiAlbert A. Nofi , is an American military historian, defense analyst, and designer of board and computer wargaming systems.A native of Brooklyn, he attended New York City public schools, graduating from the Boys' High School in 1961...
) Victory and Deceit: Deception and Trickery at War, 2nd edition, Writers Club, 2001. ISBN 0-595-18405-7. - (with Albert NofiAlbert NofiAlbert A. Nofi , is an American military historian, defense analyst, and designer of board and computer wargaming systems.A native of Brooklyn, he attended New York City public schools, graduating from the Boys' High School in 1961...
) Dirty Little Secrets of the Vietnam War: Military Information You're Not Supposed to Know, St. Martins Griffin, 2001. ISBN 0-312-25282-X. - (with Raymond M. Macedonia) Getting It Right: American Military Reforms After Vietnam to the Gulf War and Beyond, 2nd edition, Writers Club, 2001. ISBN 0-595-18446-4.
- The Perfect Soldier. Citadel, 2004. ISBN 0-8065-2416-2.
- Foreword to H.G. Wells's Floor Games (SkirmisherSkirmisher Publishing LLCSkirmisher Publishing LLC is a Spring Branch, Texas-based publisher of wargames, roleplaying games, and historic reprints. It was founded by author, editor, and game designer Michael J...
, 2006) - (with Austin Bay) A Quick & Dirty Guide to War: Briefings on Present and Potential Wars, 4th edition, Paladin, 2008. ISBN 978-158160-683-6.