Pigeon is a wonderful communicator with a very direct and engaging manner of presenting. He was able to take the highly complex concept of wargaming and boiled it down to components which are understandable and useful for any business audience. I highly recommend James to any organization seeking unique ways to determine new courses of actions and possible outcomes for those actions in a fun and engaging way.

Megan Anderson
Accelerated Business Consulting

I attended James Fielder’s presentation on “Liminality in Wargame Design”, made during the 2020 Connections conference on professional wargaming. It was the most interesting of all the presentations I attended during this conference. James was able to articulate well his thoughts on creativity and how to foster player immersion in games, two issues that have concerned me a lot as a designer.

Brian Train
Lead Designer, A Distant Plain, GMT Games

I have seen James Fielder present professionally on numerous occasions. His style is engaging, and, most importantly, his material is always creative and interesting. Jim is relaxed and conversational as he discusses some of the more complex and difficult subjects in game design. He keeps the audiences’ attention through anecdotes and real examples, while at the same time conveying the depth of his material. But an engaging speaking style is nothing without material, and here is where Jim is a double-barrel threat. He has thought deeply about game design, games, and the player experience. His insights into his subjects are ones that move the field forward and make the audience think hard about their presuppositions and beliefs. I always look forward to hearing Jim speak, because I won’t be bored and I will come away with something to think about.

Dr. Ed McGrady
Adjunct Senior Fellow, Defense Program, Center for a New American Security
Principal, MonksHood Media LLC

Dr. James Fielder is one of the very few within the national security professional gaming community who combines the study of games and gameplay theory with practical experience in game design and execution. His many presentations and articles demonstrate his knowledge of professional gaming. His continuing research is reflected in the quality of the presentations he has given to the Military Operations Research Wargame Community of Practice lecture series and the CONNECTIONS 2020. CONNECTIONS is the premier conference that brings together practitioners from every segment of the wargaming community. The Military Operations Research Society is the only professional association dedicated to the analysis of national security problems using multiple methods. Moreover, he has designed and executed games for analysis and training during a career with the United States Air Force. Dr. Fielder remains one of a handful of serious game professionals (less than a [half] dozen?) that teach gaming methods at higher centers of civilian and military education.
Please contact me if you have any questions.

Michael A. Ottenberg
Military Operations Research Society Wargame Community of Practice Lead

During Gen Con 2020, I attended Dr. Fielder’s excellent presentation about how to incorporate role-playing games (RPGs) into social sciences courses as a learning tool. What impressed me most was his commitment to using RPGs to create an inclusive learning environment. His strategies for using games to reach people with a wide variety of learning styles and personality types are very innovative. He is an eloquent advocate and ambassador for the educational potential of RPGs

Dr. Jay Cole
Senior Advisor to the President and Honors College faculty member, West Virginia University

Pigeon shared a very useful and informative presentation on crisis wargaming for our Virtual Business Collaboration webinar series during the early weeks of the Covid crisis. Attendees were small business owners, both members and friends of LoCo Think Tank (our small business peer advisory organization) and were in a phase of emerging and pivoting as necessary to ensure survival. We’re thankful for his willingness to share knowledge of his special area of expertise – it’s obviously a field in which he has strong understanding.

Curt Bear
Founder, LoCo Think Tank

Any organization or individual that is serious about wargaming would be fortunate, when afforded the opportunity, to collaborate with Dr. James “Pigeon” Fielder. Dr. Fielder is an advanced scholar of wargaming theory and practice. He is a forerunner in the field. His enthusiasm about wargaming is contagious. Dr. Fielder’s impartation of knowledge and experience benefits his audience or client in providing both impact and influence for U.S. national security.

Dr. Brooke Mitchell
Fellow, GW Nuclear Security Working Group
Lead, AFGSC Global-Near Peer Competition program

In James’ lectures I never fail to be inspired. He is both entertaining and informative. His knack for taking a fun and competitive gaming scenario, transforming it into a learning opportunity that is also entertaining is a true gift to us all.

Diane Miller
Instructor, Computer Information Systems
Scientific Teaching Fellow and Instructor of Computer Information Systems, Colorado State University

This is how it’s done team! To generate a challenging and lively scenario in a fun and engaging way. A super demonstration of facilitation and design skills to get out the best of their participants. This is a dream team for fun but also serious gaming for organizations. Very hands on–great to see how far a group can go in such a limited timeframe.

A Happy Client that Asked to Remain Anonymous 🙂