James F. Dunnigan | |
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| Born | August 8, 1943 Rockland County, New York, United States |
| Education | Columbia University (BA) |
| Occupation(s) | Author, military analyst, wargame designer |
| Known for |
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James F. Dunnigan (born August 8, 1943) is an author, military-political analyst, Defense and State Department consultant, and wargame designer currently living in New York City.
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Dunnigan was born in Rockland County, New York. 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; his service 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. [1]
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 more than 300,000 copies. [2] Meanwhile, Dunnigan had founded his own company, initially known as Poultron Press, and which was soon renamed to Simulations Publications Inc. (SPI). [3] : 98 Dunnigan created SPI to save the magazine Strategy & Tactics , which at that time was published by Chris Wagner. [3] : 98 Dunnigan had been contributing material to the magazine since its second issue in February 1967, and when Wagner was having financial challenges with the magazine he sold the rights to Dunningan for $1. [3] : 98 Dunnigan took over a windowless basement in the Lower East Side of New York City where he published his first issue, Strategy & Tactics #18 in September 1969; every issue included a new wargame beginning with that issue. [3] : 98 Dunnigan also designed the game Sniper! (1973). [3] : 98–99 Dunnigan later designed Dallas: The Television Role-Playing Game (1980), which was the first published licensed role-playing game. [3] : 99 In 1980, Dunnigan was forced to leave SPI as the financial situation at the company was deteriorating. [3] : 100 He left SPI to write more books, begin modeling financial markets, and pursue other projects. [4]
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 [Note 1] ), to the gigantic War in Europe , to the online Hundred Years War with his long time partners Albert Nofi 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. [4]
Dunnigan contributed to Three-Sixty Pacific'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". [5]
With his partners from the Hundred Years War , Daniel Masterson and Albert Nofi, Dunnigan founded the online military news site 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
Dunnigan regularly lectures at military and academic institutions, such as the Chief of Naval Operations Strategic Studies Group, in Newport, Rhode Island. [6]
In 1975, Dunnigan was inducted into the Charles Roberts Awards Hall of Fame. [7] In 1999 Pyramid magazine named him as one of the millennium's most influential persons "at least in the realm of adventure gaming". [8] 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. [9]
Strategy & Tactics (S&T) is a wargaming magazine now published by Decision Games, notable for publishing a complete new wargame in each issue.
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 innovative practices, changing the course of the wargaming hobby in its bid to take control of the hobby away from then-dominant Avalon Hill. SPI ran out of cash in early 1982 when TSR called in a loan secured by SPI's assets. TSR began selling SPI's inventory in 1982, but later acquired the company's trademarks and copyrights in 1983 and continued a form of the operation until 1987.
Moves was a wargaming magazine originally published by SPI, which also published manual wargames. Their flagship magazine Strategy & Tactics (S&T), was a military history magazine featuring a new wargame in each issue. While S&T was devoted to historical articles, Moves focused on the play of the games. Each issue carried articles dealing with strategies for different wargames, tactical tips, and many variants and scenarios for existing games. As time passed, reviews of new games also became an important feature. While the majority of the articles dealt with SPI games, the magazine was open to and published many articles on games by other companies.
PanzerBlitz is a tactical-scale board wargame published by Avalon Hill in 1970 that simulates armored combat set on the Eastern Front of World War II. The game, which was the most popular board wargame of the 1970s, is notable for being the first true board-based tactical-level, commercially available conflict simulation wargame. It also pioneered several concepts that would become industry standards.
PanzerArmee Afrika, subtitled "Rommel in the Desert, April 1941 - November 1942", is a board wargame published by Simulations Publications, Inc. (SPI) in 1973 that simulates the World War II North African Campaign that pitted the Axis forces commanded by Erwin Rommel against Allied forces. The game was revised and republished in 1984 by Avalon Hill.
Tactical wargames are a type of wargame that models military conflict at a tactical level, i.e. units range from individual vehicles and squads to platoons or companies. These units are rated based on types and ranges of individual weaponry. The first tactical wargames were played as miniatures, extended to board games, and they are now also enjoyed as video games.
Redmond Aksel Simonsen was an American graphic artist and game designer best known for his work at the board wargame company Simulations Publications, Inc. (SPI) in the 1970s and early 1980s. Simonsen was considered an innovator in game information graphics, and is credited with creating the term "game designer".
A board wargame is a wargame with a set playing surface or board, as opposed to being played on a computer or in a more free-form playing area as in miniatures games. The modern, commercial wargaming hobby developed in 1954 following the publication and commercial success of Tactics. The board wargaming hobby continues to enjoy a sizeable following, with a number of game publishers and gaming conventions dedicated to the hobby both in the English-speaking world and further afield.
Albert A. Nofi, is an American military historian, defense analyst, and designer of board and computer wargaming systems.
The Complete Wargames Handbook is a book about playing and designing wargames by James F. Dunnigan, published in 1980 by William Morrow and Company.
A monster game is a game that is either very large, very complex, or both. One criterion sometimes adopted is the number of pieces; a game which puts greater than 1000 counters into play at once may be considered to be a monster game. This classification can technically be applied to any board game, but most commonly refers to the kind of non-abstract wargames in which a large amount of time is needed to play each turn as a result of a relatively high commitment to period accurate military realism. Drang Nach Osten and its companion, Unentschieden led to the Europa Series games, a giant WWII game.
John Frederick Prados was an American author, historian, and wargame designer who specialized in the history of World War II, the Vietnam War, and current international relations.
The American Civil War: 1861–1865 is a board wargame published by Simulations Publications Inc. (SPI) in 1974 that is a strategic simulation of the American Civil War.
Combined Arms, subtitled "Combat Operations in the 20th Century", is a board wargame published by Simulations Publications Inc. (SPI) in 1974 that simulates various combat engagements in the mid-twentieth century
KampfPanzer: Armored Combat, 1937–40 is a board wargame published by Simulations Publications Inc. (SPI) in 1973 that simulates the first battles involving battle tanks.
MechWar '77, subtitled "Tactical Armored Combat in the 1970s", is a board wargame published by Simulations Publications Inc. (SPI) in 1975 that simulates hypothetical tank combat in the mid-1970s between various adversaries, using the same rules system as the previously published Panzer '44.
Napoleon at Waterloo is a board wargame published by Simulations Publications Inc. (SPI) in 1971 that simulates the Battle of Waterloo. The game, which features simple rules, was designed as an introduction to board wargaming, and was given as a free gift with each subscription to SPI's Strategy & Tactics magazine.
Desert War: Tactical Warfare in North Africa is a board wargame published in 1973 by Simulations Publications, Inc. (SPI) that simulates combat in North Africa during World War II..
Tannenberg is a board wargame published by Simulations Publications Inc. (SPI) in 1969 that simulates the Battle of Tannenberg on World War I's Eastern Front. The game was created by game designer Jim Dunnigan as a companion piece for Avalon Hill's Western Front wargame 1914, also designed by Dunnigan. Although Tannenberg could be played as a standalone game, rules were included to combine it and 1914 into a two-front wargame. Nine years later, Tannenberg was completely revised and republished as a free pull-out game in SPI's house magazine Strategy & Tactics to promote SPI's upcoming release of The Great War in the East. The second edition was also sold as a standalone game.
Year of the Rat, Vietnam, 1972 is a board wargame published by Simulations Publications Inc. (SPI) in 1972 that simulates the Easter Offensive that had just happened during the Vietnam War.
 | This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations .(March 2009) |
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