Ares

Ares was an American science fiction wargame magazine published by Simulations Publications, Inc. (SPI), and then TSR, Inc., between 1980 and 1984. In addition to the articles, each issue contained a small science-fiction-themed board wargame. Publication history Through the 1970s, SPI had specialized in military history wargames. But the 1977 publication of Metagaming Concepts's science fiction MicroGame titled OGRE proved enormously popular, and other publishers such as Task Force Games, Operational Studies Group, and Chaosium started to develop their own microgames. SPI also started to develop their own line of science fiction microgames, but went a step further, creating a new science-fiction magazine titled Ares in 1980 as a bi-monthly science-fiction/fantasy companion to their military wargame magazine Strategy & Tactics.Ares, like Strategy & Tactics, included a free game with every issue, complete with a foldout stiff paper map, a set of die-cut counters, and rules. SPI published 11 issues of Ares, and had prepared Issue 12 for publication when the company was suddenly and unexpectedly taken over by TSR in 1982. TSR released the ready-for-print Issue 12, but reduced the magazine's frequency from bi-monthly to quarterly. After Issue 17, TSR stopped printing the magazine as a separate entity; instead, starting with Issue 84 of TSR's house magazine Dragon, a section was titled Ares, and provided support for science fantasy and superhero role-playing game such as Gamma World, Marvel Super Heroes and Star Frontiers. This section last from issue #84 (April 1984) to issue #111 (July 1986), and then was discontinued, bringing the Ares story to an end. As game historian Shannon Appelcline noted, "TSR did very little with SPI's roleplaying games. Ares Magazine #12 (1982), which was prepared by SPI and published by TSR, included a game called Star Traders, which was for use with Universe; it was the last support for that game system [...] As TSR turned further away from SPI's origins, Ares magazine soon became an Ares section in Dragon magazine. However, it didn't focus on the SPI RPGs, but instead became a place to talk about TSR's own science-fiction games, such as Gamma World and Star Frontiers.