Guidon Games
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Guidon Games produced board games and rulebooks for
wargaming A normal wargame is a strategy game in which two or more players command opposing armed forces in a simulation of an armed conflict. Wargaming may be played for recreation, to train military officers in the art of strategic thinking, or to st ...
with miniatures, and in doing so influenced Tactical Studies Rules (later
TSR, Inc. TSR, Inc. was an American game publishing company, best known as the original publisher of '' Dungeons & Dragons'' (''D&D''). Its earliest incarnation, Tactical Studies Rules, was founded in October 1973 by Gary Gygax and Don Kaye. Gygax had bee ...
), the publisher of ''
Dungeons & Dragons ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (commonly abbreviated as ''D&D'' or ''DnD'') is a fantasy tabletop role-playing game (TTRPG) originally created and designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson. The game was first published in 1974 by TSR (company)#Tactical ...
''. The ''Guidon Games'' publishing imprint was the property of Lowrys Hobbies (later Lowry Enterprises), a mail-order business owned by Don and Julie Lowry. About a dozen titles were released under the imprint from 1971 to 1973.


History

By the late 1960s the miniature wargaming hobby had grown large enough that there was a demand for rulebooks dedicated to a single historical period. Don Featherstone of the UK produced booklets for eight different periods in 1966.*http://www-personal.umich.edu/~beattie/timeline2.html Courier Magazine History of Wargaming A few years later the Wargames Research Group began producing rulesets with an emphasis on historical accuracy.http://www.phil-barker.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/WRG/wrg.html History of the Wargames Research Group With this trend in mind Lowry conceived the ''Wargaming with Miniatures'' series for which he recruited rulebook authors from the ranks of the International Federation of Wargamers. Through the IFW Lowry met
Gary Gygax Ernest Gary Gygax ( ; July 27, 1938 – March 4, 2008) was an American game designer and author best known for co-creating the pioneering tabletop role-playing game ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (''D&D'') with Dave Arneson. In the 1960s, Gygax creat ...
, who served as series editor. Gygax began working for Guidon in 1970. Gygax and
Jeff Perren Jeff Perren is an American game designer, a hobby shop owner, and an early associate of Gary Gygax. Career Jeff Perren was an early member of the Lake Geneva Tactical Studies Association along with Gary Gygax, Terry Kuntz and Rob Kuntz, Ernie ...
's set of rules for medieval miniatures that had been published in the
Castle & Crusade Society The Castle & Crusade Society was a chapter of the International Federation of Wargaming dedicated to medieval miniature wargaming. Formation It was formed by Gary Gygax and Rob Kuntz in 1970. Its starting membership included Gary Gygax, Rob Kunt ...
's ''The Domesday Book'' resulted in Gygax being hired by Guidon Games to develop their "Wargaming with Miniatures" series of games. Gygax also co-authored the first title in the series, ''
Chainmail Mail (sometimes spelled maille and, since the 18th century, colloquially referred to as chain mail, chainmail or chain-mail) is a type of armour consisting of small metal rings linked together in a pattern to form a mesh. It was in common milita ...
'', which became Guidon's best seller.http://www.rpg.net/news+reviews/columns/lynch01may01.html RPGnet: Interview with Gary Gygax The series came to include games and books by Lou Zocchi, Tom Wham, and
Dave Arneson David Lance Arneson (; October 1, 1947 – April 7, 2009) was an American game designer best known for co-developing the first published role-playing game (RPG), ''Dungeons & Dragons'', with Gary Gygax, in the early 1970s. Arneson's fundamental ...
. Other notable titles in the series are '' Tractics'', one of the first published games to make use of the 20-sided die, and '' Don't Give Up The Ship!'', the first collaboration between Gygax and Arneson, the co-creators of ''Dungeons & Dragons''. Guidon also produced
Avalon Hill Avalon Hill Games Inc. is a game company that publishes wargames and strategic board games. It has also published miniature wargaming rules, role-playing games and sports simulations. It is a subsidiary of Hasbro, and operates under the compan ...
style board wargames, as well as supplements designed to be used with existing Avalon Hill board games. Avalon Hill later republished ''
Alexander the Great Alexander III of Macedon (; 20/21 July 356 BC – 10/11 June 323 BC), most commonly known as Alexander the Great, was a king of the Ancient Greece, ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia (ancient kingdom), Macedon. He succeeded his father Philip ...
'', one of Guidon's stand-alone games, while TSR republished '' Fight in the Skies''. Guidon was a small publisher, and print runs were never more than a few thousand. Lowry apparently failed to recognize the potential of ''
Dungeons & Dragons ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (commonly abbreviated as ''D&D'' or ''DnD'') is a fantasy tabletop role-playing game (TTRPG) originally created and designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson. The game was first published in 1974 by TSR (company)#Tactical ...
'',http://wiki.acaeum.com/wiki/Dragon_11 Acaeum: Dragon 11 prompting Gygax to found TSR. Gygax made the following recollection about the company in 2004:
Guidon Games had a game shop, sold gaming via the mail, published a magazine and likewise printed and sold military miniatures rulebooks and boxed board wargames. They were small but certainly a legitimate company.... I was paid for the work I did for them, yes. Unfortunately, sales volume did not make the income received thus sufficient to do more than supplement income from other work. I was asked to go to work for them full time. That would have required me to move to the state of Maine. Tom Wham did so, but I thought their new location was a poor choice. Furthermore, the company was not run in an aggressive and responsive manner. In my opinion there was no chance for growth and success as things stood and I said so to Guidon. Sadly, I was correct in my judgement.http://www.enworld.org/article.php?a=39 EnWorld: The Ultimate Gary Gygax Interview (Free Registration Required)
Despite its brief existence, Guidon had a large influence on TSR and the nascent
RPG RPG may refer to: Military * Rocket-propelled grenade, a shoulder-launched anti-tank weapon **''Ruchnoi Protivotankoviy Granatomyot'' (Russian: ''Ручной Противотанковый Гранатомёт''), hand-held anti-tank grenade laun ...
industry. In addition to Gygax and Arneson, Lowry worked with Lou Zocchi, Tom Wham, and Mike Carr. TSR initially patterned itself on Guidon, publishing sets of wargaming rules such as '' Cavaliers and Roundheads'' in the same pamphlet format used by Guidon. TSR took over some of Guidon's titles in 1975. In 1972 Lowry acquired ''
Panzerfaust Magazine ''Panzerfaust'' was a wargaming magazine started by Don Greenwood in 1967 and named after the German '' panzerfaust'', a recoilless anti-tank weapon. Like the more successful '' Strategy & Tactics'' magazine, ''Panzerfaust'' included complete g ...
''. In 1973 the Guidon Games imprint was shut down by its parent company, Lowry Hobbies. Lowry published ''Panzerfaust Magazine'' instead under the name " Panzerfaust Publications".


Products

Wargaming with Miniatures Series Board Games Board Game Supplements


Footnotes


External links


Acaeum Website Chainmail Page
* {{bgg publisher, 2010 Board game publishing companies Wargame companies