• Game: The Ares Project
• Publisher: Z-Man Games
• Designer: Geoff and Brian Englestein
• Genre: RTS-ish card-based wargame
• Players: 2-4 (best with 2)
• Playtime: 45-60 minutes



• What's Hot: Compelling, innovative concept that feels like an RTS; crazy asymmetry; tons of strategic and tactical depth in a compact package



• What's Not: Learning curve can be intimidating particularly over four completely unique factions; terrible, unbelievably boring graphic design

by: Michael Barnes

The Ares Project is a sci-fi wargame designed by Geoff Engelstein and his young son, Brian. The game depicts a wildly asymmetrical conflict occurring on Mars between technology-loving Terrans, mysterious geomancers called the Khoum, the native bug-like Xenos, and a giant mech developed by rogue engineers called the Colossus. It’s primarily a card game with a couple of punchboards of counters to represent units, “fog of war” player screens to mask base-building and administrative boards for each faction. Its pedestrian look, functional but bone-dry graphic design, and ugly colors might chase off many players despite the way cool box art that looks like it was pulled straight off the box of a 1990s FASA game.

Each faction has a deck of cards representing their particular assets including the unit-producing structures that are key to successful army building. The Terran and Khoum sides are the most alike, although the former relies heavily on technologies and upgrades and the latter on special cards and magic. The Xenos have a completely different status board that tracks their evolution and mutation, and the Colossus has no buildings or units at all, instead applying crew, systems, and modules to the giant war machine. Each side also must manage power produced by generating structures in a unique way, whether it’s to power buildings or activate special abilities.

Each building card has two different options, offering the player a choice between two similar but tactically different unit production options. Over the course of the simple, play one/draw one turns, the player can load up buildings with face-down resource cards. When an Attack card is played, signaling that the player is going to attack either the Frontier (an abstraction of territory between the bases) or the enemy’s base itself, the defender’s buildings get to cash in any banked resource cards for units and the attacker does likewise, placing unit chits on each building to represent their forces.

There are four types of units: infantry, armor, air, and buildings. Each type features four symbol- and color- coded numbers to indicate their to-hit number against each particular type of unit. So certain types of anti-armor infantry might fare better against tanks while fighter-class air units might have hardly any attack against ground units at all. And then there’s the Colossus, which uses weapons systems instead of units.

Combat involves each player selecting and creating opposing lines of forces, with all units participating. Once the battle lines are drawn by placing cards and determining which forces are in direct conflict with others, the combat resolution counts down in an initiative order with units attempting to roll under their target number for the attacked unit. The player can also attack the forces not immediately opposite but at a -1 penalty per space distant from the attacking units. In a base attack, the defender places special cards at each end of their battle line and if the attacker hits them, they can destroy empty buildings.

It’s a fun system that has a surprising amount of tactical depth. The dice rolling is exciting and provides immediate results, and there are details such a Scouting skill that some units have that force the other player to place units first and several different types of attack cards that confer bonuses or special circumstances to the fight. The game greatly incentivizes fighting as the player who holds the frontier gets to claim any attack cards that are played as points. So if you’re not in control of the map, so to speak, you’re not getting ahead. This is also definitely a game where knowing the cards and knowing how to play well can make a profound difference on your odds of winning.