Issue #57 of Panzerfaust (January-February 1973) was the first done at a regular printing service, which meant the size changed (to 6″x9″), but the page count went up, the paper quality was much improved, and it was properly trimmed.

This was the first issue produced in Maine, in a more spacious area than the home in Evansville, but the change in venue and printing did cause it to come out in a rush, and be more error-prone.

Contents:
Line of Communications * Editor
The Atlanta Campaign * Don Lowry
Designing Atlanta * Don Lowry
The Ratio of Forces to Space * Jerry Pournelle
Wargamers Guide to the ACW, Part VI * Don Lowry
Gettysburg & Chancellorsville * Steven List
Game Design * Bill Gale
Thumbnail Analysis * Tom Wham
Miniature Warfare * Gary Gygax
Book Review * Editor
Passing in Review * Pete Bennett
Reconnaissance in Force * Editor
Wargamer’s Notebook * Editor
Mail Call

Available at Wargame Vault.

Issue #56 of Panzerfaust (November-December 1972) was the fourth under Don Lowry, and the last one produced in Indiana on his press, though it actually went out after the business had moved to Maine.

Contents:
Line of Communications * Editor
Anzio: Born 1969 – Died 1972 * Tom Oleson
Fall Gelb Revisited * Kevin Slimak
The Oblique Line * Thomas Nowak
In Defense of Belgium * Harold Totten
Let’s Play 1914 * Chuck Holland
Napoleonic Kalinatactic * Mike Guth
Design Analysis: Hannibal * Harold Totten
Game Review: Hannibal * Lawrence Schmidt
Wargamer’s Guide to the ACW, Part V * Don Lowry
German Historic Placement in Dunkirk * Gary Gygax
The Battles for France * Tyrone Bomba
Miniatures in Their Oldest Form, a Chess Variant * Gary Gygax
Panzerblitz Defenses, Part II * Vance von Borries
Diplomacy: The Fool’s Mate in Diplomacy * Rich Brooks
Wargaming in Miniature * Gary Gygax
Game Design: Reducing Luck in Wargames * Bill Gale
Thumbnail Analysis * Editor
Wargamer’s Notebook: The World Chess Championships * Harold Totten
Pass in Review * Editor
Reconnaissance in Force * Editor
Mail Call

Available at Wargame Vault.

The third issue of Panzerfaust under Don Lowry (September-October 1972) continued the new format. The editorial column had recent news, and announced an upcoming move to Maine, as the current house that was holding the magazine, Lowrys Hobbies (a mail-order catalog), and Guidon Games, was far too small for everything.

Contents:
Line of Communications * Editor
Wargamer’s Guide to the Russian Front, #1 * John Lundstrom
Waterloo: 30 Turns of Battle * Gary Gygax
Design Analysis: Phalanx & Alexander * Harold Totten
A Second Opinion: Game Review * Lawrence Schmidt
Wargamer’s Guide to the ACW, Part IV * Don Lowry
Panzerblitz & Combat Command * Paul Mills
D-Day at LeMans * Steve Powlesland
Playable U.S.N. * Mark Swanson
The Six Days War * Harold Totten
Warfare in Miniature * Gary Gygax
Diplomacy * Gary Gygax
Game Design: Realism vs Playability * Harold Totten
Wargamer’s Notebook * Lou Zocci and Jacqueline Lichtenberg
Pass in Review * Editor
Reconnaissance in Force
Mail Call

Available at Wargame Vault.

And now the second issue of Panzerfaust under Don Lowry is available for download. This issue features a review of AH’s France, 1940, compared with Gary Gygax’s Dunkirk, thoughts on North Africa in WWII, and designer’s notes on Spirit of ’76, a game that was originally a subscriber’s bonus with this issue (not included here), as well as articles by designer Vance von Borries, and author Jerry Pournelle.

Contents:
Line of Communications * Editor
The French Army in 1940 * Harold Totten
Design Analysis: France ’40 & Dunkirk * Harold Totten
British Openings in Origins * Vance von Borries
Spirit of ’76 * Chuck Lane
Wargamer’s Guide To the ACW, Part III * Don Lowry
Prelude to Africa Korps * R. W. Garbisch
Simulating the Desert War * J.E. Pournelle
Stalingrad Rules Interpretations * George Phillies
Game Design * Don Lowry
Operation Contact * Alister Wm. Macintyre
Diplomacy: Two Unusual German Openings * Edi Birson
Forgotten Military Vehicles * Tom Wham
Thumbnail Analysis * Editor
Wargamer’s Notebook * Editor
Book Review * Editor
Pass In Review * Editor
Reconnaissance In Force * Editor
The Great Debate * Donald Wolff
Mail Call

Also, The Fox Hole continues as  a ‘value add’ column, with observations and some commentary on just where things were in 1972.

Available at Wargame Vault.

After not doing much for a bit, Fox Den has launched a new project today!

Back in the ’60s my dad got into the wargaming industry with Lowrys Hobbies, which was a mail-order business for miniatures, terrain, and the like, as well as reselling games of course. He got his own printing press to produce the catalog, and then started Guidon Games to start publishing miniatures rules and board games. In 1972, he bought Panzerfaust magazine from Don Greenwood and ran that for the next decade.

I am now working on republishing all those issues (#53-#111) in PDF format. My dad doesn’t remember the terms of the sale well enough to be entirely sure of the rights to the first fifty-two issues (talk of reprinting them at the time suggests he does have the rights, but I’d want to talk to Don Greenwood first anyway)… and getting a hold of them to scan would be a major undertaking.

I hope to put one out, on average, once a month, and since my dad ran it as a (mostly) bimonthly for ten years, this is a five-year project.

Each issue will be a scanned PDF with searchable text. I’m also adding a final page with my own commentary and elaborations on when the issue came out and its contents.

So, here’s the spiel for issue #53:

In 1972 Don Greenwood was hired by Avalon Hill as editor for their magazine, the General. The magazine that had brought him to their attention was sold to Don Lowry, who took over as of issue #53.

This is a searchable scanned PDF of the original issue (without the game insert) from May/June 1972. (Note that there are a couple of pages where the text gets cut off a little, this was in the original printing.)

Panzerfaust was an amateur ‘zine, but was growing up into the semi-pro leagues at this point, having graduated from mimeographs to actual offset printing.

Contents:
Line of Communications: Editorial
Wargamer of the Month: Don Greenwood
Western PanzerBlitz Revisited * Paul Mills
Assorted Comments On Western PanzerBlitz * Roy Easton
More Western PanzerBlitz * Roy Easton
Forgotten Military Vehicles * Tom Wham
Fuhrer Directive 33 * E. Gary Gygax
Wargamer’s Guide To the ACW, Part II * Don Lowry
The Battle of New Orleans * Larry Schmidt
Midway Island * R. W. Garbisch [rules]
The Ship With Guts * Damian Housman
The Super Battleship * Kevin Muyzinski
Fall Barbarossa Review * George Phillies
Blue and Gray * E. Gary Gygax
The Great Debate * Lou Zocchi, Gary Gygax, and Tom Clarke
Diplomacy: Russia’s Northern Offensive * Rod Walker
Warfare In Miniature: The Battle Report of the USS Franklin * David L. Arneson
Blunderovsky Blows the Battle of Moscow * Mark Swanson
Design Analysis: Nuclear Destruction * Harold Totten
Thumbnail Analysis
Pass In Review * Donald Greenwood
Reconnaissance In Force
Mail Call

Also, as a ‘value add’, there is an extra page with observations and some commentary on just where things were in 1972.

Available at Wargame Vault.