{{Short description|Science fiction wargame magazine}} {{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}} {{Infobox magazine | title = Ares | logo = <!-- seems faulty with MM_logo.jpg --> | logo_size = | image_file = File:First_issue_of_Ares_magazine.png | image_size = | image_alt = | image_caption= Cover of Issue #1 (March 1980), <br>cover art by Howard Chaykin | editor = | editor_title = | frequency = Quarterly | circulation = | category = | company = | publisher = Simulations Publications | firstdate = 1980 | finaldate = 1984 | country = United States | based = | language = English | website = | issn = }}
'''''Ares''''' was an American science fiction and fantasy 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 or fantasy 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.<ref name=fan /> 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 publication to complement their military wargame magazine ''Strategy & Tactics''.<ref name="designers80s">{{Cite book|author=Shannon Appelcline|title=Designers & Dragons: The '80s|publisher=Evil Hat Productions|year=2014| isbn=978-1-61317-081-6}}</ref>{{rp|11}}''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.<ref name="designers80s"/>{{rp|9}}
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.<ref name="designers70s">{{Cite book|author=Shannon Appelcline|title=Designers & Dragons: The '70s|publisher=Evil Hat Productions|year=2014| isbn=978-1-61317-075-5}}</ref>{{rp|51}}
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''."<ref name="designers80s"/>{{rp|14}}
Michael Anderson of One Small Step Games started a Kickstarter in 2014 to remake the old magazine as a new ''Ares''.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2013-12-12 |title=The Rebirth of Ares Magazine – Black Gate |url=https://www.blackgate.com/2013/12/12/the-rebirth-of-ares-magazine/ |access-date=2024-01-11 |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2014-01-01 |title=Ares Magazine Kickstarter Begins! – Black Gate |url=https://www.blackgate.com/2014/01/01/ares-magazine-kickstarter-begins/ |access-date=2024-01-11 |language=en-US}}</ref> The Kickstarter was successful in February 2014.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2014-02-12 |title=Ares Magazine Kickstarter Succeeds! – Black Gate |url=https://www.blackgate.com/2014/02/12/ares-magazine-kickstarter-succeeds/ |access-date=2024-01-11 |language=en-US}}</ref> The second issue was released in December 2015.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2015-12-11 |title=Ares Magazine #2 Now Available – Black Gate |url=https://www.blackgate.com/2015/12/11/ares-magazine-2-now-available/ |access-date=2024-01-11 |language=en-US}}</ref> The third issue was released in September 2016.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.blackgate.com/2016/09/10/ares-magazine-3-now-available/ | title=Ares Magazine 3 Now Available – Black Gate | date=10 September 2016 }}</ref> The fourth issue was released in January 2017.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.blackgate.com/2017/01/10/ares-magazine-4-now-available/ | title=Ares Magazine 4 Now Available – Black Gate | date=10 January 2017 }}</ref>
==Reception== Jerry Epperson reviewed the first issue of ''Ares'' in ''The Space Gamer'' No. 28.<ref name="SG">{{cite journal|last=Epperson|first=Jerry |date=May–June 1980 |title=Capsule Reviews|journal=The Space Gamer|publisher=Steve Jackson Games|issue=28|pages=24}}</ref> Epperson commented that the first issue, and its game ''WorldKiller'' "was a disappointment. It's uneven. Expect nothing but the best in serious science fiction writing here, and nothing but the worst from the games."<ref name="SG"/>
In Issue 26 of ''Phoenix'', Hamish Wilson liked the professional look of the first issue, calling it "well put together." But overall, he felt the magazine "lacks form, shape and direction [...] rather than being bold, uncompromising and nailing its colours to the mast, ''Ares'' has, as it were, crept out into the open with some fiction, some fact and some game."<ref name=phoenix26>{{cite magazine | last=Wilson | first=Hamish | date=July–August 1980 |title= Get Back Gernsback! | magazine=Phoenix | issue=26 | pages=14 }}</ref>
In ''Fantastic'', game designer Greg Costikyan was unimpressed with the first issue of ''Ares'', writing, "One would have thought that SPI would seek to make a good impression by producing a high quality game in the first issue [of ''Ares'']. On the contrary, ''WorldKiller'' is a dog [...] The game is simple and uninteresting, with no complications introduced to hold one’s interest."<ref name=fan>{{cite magazine |last=Costikyan|first=Greg | author-link = Greg Costikyan | date=October 1980 |title=Games fen will Play|magazine=Fantastic |volume= 27 | number= 11 |pages=21}}</ref>
==Review== *''Perfidious Albion'' #46 (May 1980) p.8 *''Perfidious Albion'' #49 (December 1980) p.19 *''Perfidious Albion'' #50 (January 1981) p.19
==See also== * ''Galac-Tac'' * ''Starweb'' * ''Nightmare House''
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== * [http://www.costik.com/spicom/ares.html Greg Costikyan's canonical listing of Ares issues] * [https://web.archive.org/web/20070714093134/http://members.aol.com/gamepictures/spiares.htm A complementary listing of Ares issues] * [https://archive.org/details/ares_magazine&tab=collection Internet Archive holdings of Ares issues]
{{WargameMag}}
Category:Bimonthly magazines published in the United States Category:Defunct science fiction magazines published in the United States Category:Magazines disestablished in 1984 Category:Magazines established in 1980 Category:Quarterly magazines published in the United States Category:Science fiction magazines established in the 1980s Category:Defunct wargaming magazines Category:Defunct game magazines published in the United States