Jim Dunnigan
James F. Dunnigan (born
1943) is an author and
wargame designer currently living in
New York City, notable for his matter-of-fact approach to military analysis.
Born in Rockland County, New York, after high school he volunteered for the military instead of waiting to be drafted, and from 1961 to 1964 worked as a repair technician for the Sergeant ballistic missile, which included a tour in Korea. After the military, he attended Pace University studying accounting, then transferred to Columbia University, graduating with a degree in history in 1970.
While still in college, he got involved in wargaming, and designed Jutland, which Avalon Hill published in 1967, following it up with 1914 the next year, and the groundbreaking Panzerblitz in 1970, which eventually sold half a million copies. Meanwhile, he had founded his own company, Simulations Publications, Inc (SPI) and had begun publishing 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 (Dunnigan having witnessed though not participated), to the gigantic War in Europe, to the online Hundred Years War, which has been running since 1992.
In 1979, he wrote his first book The Complete Wargames Handbook, still considered a definitive work, and in 1980 How to Make War.
He also regularly gives lectures to the military, and has appeared on TV as a commentator on military subjects.
Books
- (with Austin Bay) A Quick & Dirty Guide to War: Briefings on Present and Potential Wars
- Digital Soldiers
- (with Albert Nofi) Dirty Little Secrets: American Military Information You're Not Supposed to Know
- Dirty Little Secrets of the 20th Century: Myths, Misinformation, and Unknown Truths About the 20th Century
- (with Albert Nofi) Dirty Little Secrets of the Vietnam War: Military Information You're Not Supposed to Know
- (with Albert Nofi) Dirty Little Secrets of World War II: Military Information No One Told You About the Greatest, Most Terrible War in History
- (with Austin Bay) From Shield to Storm: High-Tech Weapons, Military Strategy and Coalition Warfare in the Persian Gulf
- (with Raymond M. MacEdonia) Getting It Right: American Military Reforms After Vietnam to the Gulf War and Beyond
- How to Make War: A Comprehensive Guide to Modern Warfare for the Post-Cold War Era
- (with William Martel) How to Stop a War: The Lessons of Two Hundred Years of War and Peace
- (with Albert Nofi) Medieval Life and the Hundred Years War (200,000 word online book)
- (with Albert Nofi) Shooting Blanks: War Making That Doesn't Work
- (with Albert Nofi) The Pacific War Encyclopedia
- The Complete Wargamers Handbook: How to Play, Design and Find Them
- (with Daniel Masterson) The Way of the Warrior: Business Tactics and Techniques from History's Twelve Greatest Generals
- (with Albert Nofi) Victory and Deceit: Dirty Tricks at War
- (with Albert Nofi) Victory at Sea: World War II in the Pacific
Games
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External link