Jim Dunnigan. A name best spoken in hushed, reverent tones by wargamers all too aware of his now legendary status in the hobby. The founder and guiding light of Simulations Publications, Inc. The man who pushed the wargaming design envelope to its limits, before vanishing forever into the financial and consulting sectors, leaving his fans dazed, confused, and forever searching for his designs, the holy relics of wargaming, on eBay. Will Dunnigan ever create again? Will the Beatles ever get back together? The answers to such questions are not for us mere mortals to know. At least we can say that he left the scene without owing lots of people money.

Recently, Dunnigan has surfaced, in a fashion. His new web site at www.jim.dunnigan.com may help satiate admirers not content with his occasional Usenet posting. The site is simply a guide to all things Dunnigan, with emphasis on the admittedly shameless self-promotion of his books. Currently he is hyping Dirty Little Secrets of the Twentieth Century, which goes beyond his usual military-themed work. His other books are listed on the site also, complete with decent summaries of their content. He also links to a ludography (actually on The Hundred Years War site), and to the complete text of the revised edition of The Complete Wargames Handbook (also at HYW). Other links lead to professional simulation sites, and to the 'Battle of the Game Designers' (he implies he won).

Dunnigan includes a short biography with which focuses mostly on his nonwargaming activities. It is common knowledge that he dropped out of high school, went into the Army, served in Korea, and graduated from Columbia, but it is a bit surprising to learn that he started his college career as an accounting major at Pace University. The latter does explain a lot of his design philosophy.

Speaking of design philosophy, there is a genuine Dunnigan game on the net: The Hundred Years War at www.hyw.com, a collaboration with Al Nofi. Considering his growing interest in computers since way back, it is unsurprising that this is an online game, around since 1992. Essentially, a player takes a medieval lord type position and maneuvers him through the mess that passed for Western Europe in the 14th and 15th Centuries, for a mere $5.95 per month. The site provides the standard setup, rule, help, account, and update information. The project takes advantage of the Internet's ability to be timely in that rules changes can be posted quickly and brought to the various players' attention via announcements. It is certainly an improvement over printing a never-ending stream of errata in Strategy & Tactics.

Even if you have no interest in playing the game, visit the site. Besides information relating to the simulation itself, the archives have The Complete Wargames Handbook, and Medieval Life and The Hundred Years War (a lengthy historical survey of the era), both well worth reading. The links section connects to many interesting medieval pages, including software for designing a coat of arms.

Perhaps the best reason for visiting these sites is nostalgia. Most boardgamers today had embraced SPI's debut with a sense of conversion hysteria. Suddenly, the real possibilities of game design became clear to all, and the hobby exploded for a while. Today, things are different, and gamers still feel nostalgic for what was once a glorious time in our lives. Surf these sites, remember, and enjoy, preferably while listening to 'American Pie.'