In May 1970, a new small business was launched: a mail-order hobby store geared towards wargaming, especially for miniatures. The business would grow, incorporating other secondary businesses, like Guidon Games (whose first product is featured in this catalog), The Toy Soldier (a physical store that opened in 1973), Panzerfaust Publications (centered on the magazine of the same name, bought in 1972), and Lowry Enterprises, which became the holding company for them all, and was a short-lived wholesale distributor.
This initial catalog is reproduced mostly as a curiosity piece, and to show just what kinds of products were available in the middle of 1970. The bulk of the catalog is for military miniatures of various eras and manufacturers, but also includes paints, brushes, books, replica guns, and of course, games.
Available at Wargame Vault.
The last issue to go without a date, this is the May-June 1975 issue. The masthead proclaimed “Incorporating CAMPAIGN Magazine”, marking the end of efforts to sell that magazine to someone else.
The fourth issue of Lowrys Guidon came out in October 1972, just before the business moved to Maine. This was the final supplement to the 1972 Discount Catalog, with the 1973 Catalog coming out a few months later.
Roughly the March-April 1975 issue, this was the second one produced in Fallbrook, CA.
The third booklet in Guidon Game’s Wargamer’s Guidebook Series was an expanded reprint of the book that started the idea, Don Greenwood’s Stalingrad Strategy Guide. Printed around September 1972, it reprinted articles from The Avalon Hill General, International Wargamer, Panzerfaust, and The Spartan collected by Don Greenwood.
This issue was the first one produced in Fallbrook, CA, which would be the home of the magazine for the rest of its life. This, and the next couple would still carry no cover date, but this one is being considered December ’74/January-February ’75.
The third issue of Lowrys Guidon came out around late July 1972, after a trip to Maine to secure a larger house for the family and business. It went back down to twelve pages in the same format as the first two issues.
This was the last issue produced in Maine, and has a reconstructed date of October-November 1974.
By the reconstructed schedule, this was the August-September 1974 issue. The big news this time was the sale of Lowrys Hobbies (the original mail-order store) to Pete Rice, under the name “The Toy Soldier”.
The second issue of Lowrys Guidon came out in April 1972, alongside the 1972 Discount Catalog and shortly after Don Lowry had acquired Panzerfaust from Don Greenwood. It expanded to 20 pages, and had a few more articles than the first issue, but otherwise kept the same format.