Organizations: Mil/Gov Commercial Academic
The below brief bios are of selected contributors to the history of wargaming.
For a fuller biography (when available) click on the name of the individual.
For a fuller list of contributors to the field of wargaming, click here.
Lincoln Bloomfield, MIT Professor co-responsible for bringing Pol-Mil wging to US
John Phillips Colomb, Captain, British Royal Navy, invented first modern naval wg
Trevor Dupuy, Colonel, USA, historian, champion of using historical data in wging
Herbert Goldhamer, RAND, co-responsible for bringing Pol-Mil wging to US
James F. Dunnigan, Prolific Wargame Designer, Editor, Publisher, Author
Herbert Goldhamer, in 1950’s developed American Political-Military wargaming
Sterling Hart, First Director of NDU’s War Gaming and Simulation Center
Orville E. “Bud” Hay, Chief of Wargaming, Naval War College, 1985-1999
John Hill, designer of best selling print wargame - Squad Leader and many others
Fred Jane, wrote first naval combat wargame rules for civilian audience
Wiolliam Jones, Colonel, USAF, Founder of US Joint Staff Wargaming
F. W. Kitchener, author of 1895 UK rules on wargaming
Frederick William Lanchester, creator of Lanchester’s equations
Harris Laning, Vice Adm, USN, live & constructive wg innovator, Pres NWC 1930-33
Edwin Link, first volume designer and builder of flight and other simulators
W. R. Livermore, Major US Army, first in US to advocate/improve wargaming
Raymond Macedonia, Col, USA, founder & chairman of Army War Collage WG Dep
William McCarty Little, Father of American Wargaming 1846 - 1915
Francis McHugh, wargame designer, co-founder of Global the first Title 10 wargame
Helmuth von Moltke, Field Marshal, Prussian Army, adapted wg for planning
Captain Naumann, Saxon, first to publish rules on what today is called break points
Constantine "Dean" Pappas, Colonel, USAF, Father of AF Wargaming Center
Dr Peter P. Perla III, Wargame; Theorists, Designer, Author, Manager, Advocate
Fletcher Pratt, Designer of first US Naval Wargame intended for Civilian audiences
Baron von Reisswitz, Prussian war counselor, Invented first modern wargame
Lieutenant George H. R. J. Reisseitz, created first widely used modern wargame
Charles S. Roberts, Founding Father of commercially available print wargames
Ed Rotberg, in 1980 designed Battlezone, and later Army Battlezone, first FPS
Steve Russell, Originator SPACEWAR! programed in 1962, first civ computer WG
Farrand Sayre, Capt, US Army, authored Map Maneuvers and Tactical Rides in 1908
Alfred Schlieffen, Gen, German Army, conceived Schlieffen Plan, advocate of wging
Redmond Simonsen, THE pioneer in the art of intuitive graphics conventions
Richard "Moody" Suter, Colonel, USAF, Father of Red Flag, Warrior Prep Center
Jack Thorpe, father of virtual wargaming, convinced DARPA network simulators
Charles Totten, Lt, US Army, Author of Strategos, early series of US Wargames
Adolf von Trotha, Prussian officer asserted wargaming contributed to their success
Gary Ware, Colonel, USAF, Director of Wargaming for CENTCOM during Gulf War
Casey Wardynski, Colonel, US Army, Originator of America’s Army wargame
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H.G. Wells, author, wrote first ground combat wargame rules for civilian audience
Spenser Wilkinson, UK volunteer officer, advocate staff system & wargaming
Key to abbreviations:
civ civilian
DARPA Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency
Dir Director
Dep Deputy
FPS First Person Shooter
M, S & G Modeling, Simulation and Gaming
MORS Military Operations Research Society
ret retired
USMC United States Marine Corps
USMCR United States Marine Corps Reserve
USN United States Navy
USNR United States Navy Reserve
USAF United States Air Force
USAFR United States Air Force Reserve
WG Wargame
WGs Wargames
If you would like to propose improvements to a current biography or to submit a new one please click on “Email me” below. If you are submitting a biography please include:
Full Name
A one line description of key contributions
A one paragraph bio
