Panzerfaust Magazine / Campaign Magazine

Panzerfaust was an amateur wargaming magazine started by Don Greenwood in 1967 and named after the German rocket-based anti-tank weapon. Like the professional Strategy & Tactics premiered at the same time, Panzerfaust included complete games, though S&T did not produce games until 1969 after its takeover by SPI.

The magazine got its start in a similar way to Fire & Movement according to Greenwood:

One of my postal opponents had taken to sending a carbon-copy newsletter of his correspondence with his various game moves so as not to have to repeat the same small talk over and over again. I not only mimicked him, I went him one better by starting my own magazine. Xeroxed at first to about a dozen correspondents, followed by school dittos provided by sympathetic teachers. My opponents were now harangued into contributing articles. Suitably impressed with my new venture, my parents sprang at Christmas for a new A.B. Dick spirit-master machine. If only my mother had known what evil consequences this would have for her son - the "Doctor". Thus was born PANZERFAUST - or PANZERFAUUST sic as it was misspelled in its maiden issue...Circulation eventually rose to 800. Which is a lot of cranks on a hand-driven spirit-master machine let me tell you... 1


Issue 45 of Panzerfaust. Anyone growing up in the 1970s will remember the purple ink of the "ditto" machines on which Greenwood produced early issues of his magazine.

 

It was apparently not uncommon for early "fan" magazines to be printed on (by modern standards) crude equipment, which in the early 1970s included:

..."spirit master" often incorrectly called "ditto" or "hecto", "mimeo" which includes mimeograph, Gestetner, and related processes and "offset" including all sorts of offset printing. "Xerox" refers to the Xerox TM process and to its relatives.2

Another source describes the magazine in its early days:

Under Greenwood, the magazine was published monthly (ten times per year), using the spirit master reproduction process. As a result, the physical quality was more than uneven, but the magazine quickly made a reputation for maintaining a regular production schedule. Most importantly, Greenwood was able to attract a stable of writers that included some of the most recognizable names in the hobby, including Gary Gygax, Tom Hazlett, Chuck Lane, George Phillies, and Vance von Borries.3

By 1972 the magazine still boasted unremarkable production values, being distributed with a monochrome cover, stapled binding and an average length of about fifty 5.5" x 8.5" pages. Don Greenwood, having graduated college in May 1972, went on to accept editorship of The General after a three month chase by then-editor Tom Shaw, his first issue being Volume 9, Issue 1.4

Don Lowry, owner of Guidon Games, acquired Panzerfaust. After publishing a single issue of a new magazine called Campaign in 1973, he merged the two, keeping the numbering scheme of the earlier Panzerfaust. Lowry stopped including games in the magazine, preferring to sell them separately under the Panzerfaust Publications imprint. In 1976 Lowry renamed the magazine Campaign and production values improved.

The magazine published articles by notable industry figures such as Lou Zocchi and Jack Scruby. The last issue of Campaign magazine appeared in 1982. In all, 112 issues of both magazines were printed before publication officially ceased in 1986 due to financial concerns.5 At least one "Best Of" issue is known to exist, with unknown publication date (the magazine is reported to include articles selected by the editor from issues 1 through 24). Two additional Special Issues of Campaign were also published. Special Issue #2 was a compilation of Squad Leader and Cross of Iron articles reprinted from previous issues.
 

Issue 74 of Campaign bearing the combined title, and the final issue, 111. 

 

Cover Gallery

 

       
  Vol. 2 No. 1
Mar 1968
     
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No. 30? Vol. 4 No. 7
Feb 1970
Vol. 4 No. 8?
Mar 1970?
Vol. 5 No. 1
Apr 1970
No. 34?
Vol. 5 No. 2?
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No. 35?
Aug 1970?
No. 36?
Sep 1970?
No. 37?
Oct 1970?
No. 38?
Nov 1970?
No. 39?
Dec 1970?
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No. 40
Jan 1971
No. 41
Feb 1971
No. 42
Mar 1971
No. 43
Apr 1971
No. 44
May 1971
No. 45
Jun 1971
No. 46
Jul 19716
No. 47
Aug 19716
No. 48
Sep 19716
No. 49
Oct 19716
No. 50
Nov 1971
No. 51
Jan-Feb 1972
No. 52
Mar-Apr 1972
No. 53
May-Jun 1972
No. 54
Jul-Aug 1972
No. 55
Sep-Oct 1972
No. 56
Nov-Dec 1972
No. 57
Jan-Feb 1973
No. 58
May-Jun 1973
No. 59
Jul-Aug 1973
No. 60 No. 61 No. 62 No 63 No. 64
No. 65 No. 66 No. 67 No. 68
Jul-Aug 1975
No. 69
Sep-Oct 1975
No. 70 No. 71
Jan-Feb 1976
No. 72
Mar-Apr 1976
No. 73
May-June 1976
No. 74
Jul-Aug 1976
No. 75
Sep-Oct 1976
No. 76
Nov-Dec 1976
No. 77
Jan-Feb 1977
No. 78
Mar-Apr 1977
No. 79
May-Jun 1977
No. 80
Jul-Aug 1977
No. 81
Sep-Oct 1977
No. 82
Nov-Dec 1977
No. 83
Jan-Feb 1978
No. 84
Mar-Apr 1979
No. 85
May-Jun 1978
No. 86
Jul-Aug 1978
No. 87 No. 88
Nov-Dec 1978
No. 89
Jan-Feb 1979
No. 90
Mar-Apr 1979
No. 91
May-Jun 1979
No. 92
Jul-Aug 1979
No. 93
Sep-Oct 1979
No. 94
Nov-Dec 1979
No. 95
Jan-Feb 1980
No. 96
Mar-Apr 1980
No. 97
May-Jun 1980
No. 98
Jul-Aug 1980
No. 99
Sep-Oct 1980
No. 100
Nov-Dec 1980
No. 101
Jan-Feb 1981
No. 102
Mar-Apr 1981
No. 103
May-Jun 1981
No. 104
Jul-Aug 1981
No. 105
Sep-Oct 1981
No. 106
Nov-Dec 1981
No. 107
Jan-Feb 1982
No. 108
Mar-Apr 1982
No. 109
May-Jun 1982
 
No. 110 No. 111 Campaign No. 1
Summer 1973

 

Special Issues

 

Best of Panzerfaust Special Issue 1 Special Issue 2

 

Notes

  1. Greenwood, Donald. "Spirit-Master to Offset-King" The General, Volume 25, Number 1 Avalon Hill, 1988.
  2. Phillies, George and Martin Campion. "A Guide to Conflict Simulation Games and Periodicals" Moves, Nr. 7 SPI, Feb-Mar 1973.
  3. Matheson, Roy "A Short Retrospective: Magazines in the Golden Age" War Diary, Vol. 2 No. 1 (Spring 2015)
  4. Shaw, Thomas N. "In the Beginning", The General, Volume 25, Number 1, Ibid
  5. Matheson, Ibid
  6. Images of covers 46, 47, 48, and 49 courtesy of Michael Dean, Fine Games.

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