Don Lowry is a wargamer, businessman, illustrator, and game designer who is best known as the publisher of ''

Chainmail Chain mail (properly called mail or maille but usually called chain mail or chainmail) is a type of armour consisting of small metal rings linked together in a pattern to form a mesh. It was in common military use between the 3rd century BC and ...

'' and the editor of ''

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 ga ...

''. Lowry was active in the

International Federation of Wargaming The International Federation of Wargaming (IFW) was a wargaming club operated from 1967 to early 1970s. Formation Founded by Bill Speer, Gary Gygax, and Scott Duncan in 1967, it emerged as a successor to an earlier club called the United States Co ...

in the late 1960s and ran a mail order business called "Lowry's Hobbies" with his wife Julie. In 1970 he produced a supplement to the

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 company' ...

game ''

Battle of the Bulge The Battle of the Bulge, also known as the Ardennes Offensive, was the last major German offensive (military), offensive military campaign, campaign on the Western Front (World War II), Western Front during World War II. The battle lasted fr ...

'' called ''

Operation Greif Operation Greif (german: Unternehmen Greif) was a special operation commanded by '' Waffen-SS'' commando Otto Skorzeny during the Battle of the Bulge in World War II. The operation purpose was to capture one or more of the bridges over the Meuse ...

'' which was distributed via the IFW newsletter. In 1971 he started a publishing imprint called

Guidon Games Guidon Games produced board games and rulebooks for wargaming with miniature wargaming, miniatures, and in doing so influenced Tactical Studies Rules (later TSR, Inc.), the publisher of ''Dungeons & Dragons''. The ''Guidon Games'' publishing imp ...

which produced rulebooks for miniature wargaming and board wargames, and he tapped

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 role-playing game ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (''D&D'') with Dave Arneson. In the 1960s, Gygax created an ...

to serve as editor. Lowry designed two of the games, ''

Ironclad An ironclad is a steam engine, steam-propelled warship protected by Wrought iron, iron or steel iron armor, armor plates, constructed from 1859 to the early 1890s. The ironclad was developed as a result of the vulnerability of wooden warships ...

'' and ''

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

'', himself and provided the illustrations for some of the other games. Lowry's mail order business was originally in

Evansville, Indiana Evansville is a city in, and the county seat of, Vanderburgh County, Indiana, United States. The population was 118,414 at the 2020 census, making it the state's third-most populous city after Indianapolis and Fort Wayne, the largest city in ...

, but he relocated to

Belfast, Maine Belfast is a city in Waldo County, Maine, Waldo County, Maine, in the United States. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the city population was 6,938. Located at the mouth of the Passagassawakeag River estuary on Belfast Bay (Main ...

in 1972. The same year he acquired ''

'' from Don Greenwood and took over as editor. Lowry declined to publish ''

Dungeons & Dragons ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (commonly abbreviated as ''D&D'' or ''DnD'') is a fantasy tabletop role-playing game (RPG) originally designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson. The game was first published in 1974 by TSR (company)#Tactical Studies Rules ...

'', which motivated Gygax to found

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 ...

TSR would republish some of the Guidon titles, and the Guidon board game ''

Alexander the Great Alexander III of Macedon ( grc, wikt:Ἀλέξανδρος, Ἀλέξανδρος, Alexandros; 20/21 July 356 BC – 10/11 June 323 BC), commonly known as Alexander the Great, was a king of the Ancient Greece, ancient Greek kingdom of Maced ...

'' was picked up by

. By 1975 Lowry moved his company, now called "Lowry's Enterprises", to

Fallbrook, California Fallbrook is a CDP in northern San Diego County, California. Fallbrook had a population of 30,534 at the 2010 census, up from 29,100 at the 2000 census. Fallbrook's downtown is not on a major highway route. It is west of Interstate 15 or n ...

. That year he designed a set of rules for Napoleonic miniatures called ''

Grand Army Grand may refer to: People with the name * Grand (surname) * Grand L. Bush (born 1955), American actor * Grand Mixer DXT, American turntablist * Grand Puba (born 1966), American rapper Places * Grand, Oklahoma * Grand, Vosges, village and commu ...

'' and released it under his Panzerfaust Publications imprint. ''Panzerfaust'' magazine was renamed ''Campaign'' in 1976, and Lowry published it as late as 1982. He holds, or has held, the

copyright A copyright is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the exclusive right to copy, distribute, adapt, display, and perform a creative work, usually for a limited time. The creative work may be in a literary, artistic, education ...

s to ''Alexander the Great'', '' Chainmail: rules for medieval miniatures'', and ''Dunkirk, the Battle of France'', all with Gary Gygax.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lowry, Don Board game designers Living people People from Evansville, Indiana People from Belfast, Maine People from Fallbrook, California Year of birth missing (living people)