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Space Gamer Article Index

The Space Gamer: The Metagaming Issues

Issues #1 to 14 were digest size (5.5 x 8.5”), and varied from 16 to 48 pages, with cover prices ranging from 70 cents to $1.50.

Issues #15 to #26 were in the 8.5 x 11” format, and up to 54 pages. Cover price $1.50 per issue.

1975

  • Issue #2 (22 pages)
    • The Intangibles Headache (writing on morale rules)
    • Third Millenia, Inc. (list of game offerings by this publisher)
    • Stellar Conquest Update
    • Reviews: Space Centurions, Star Raider
  • Issue #3 (22 pages)
    • Two Views of the Future (comparison of Stellar Conquest and Starforce game systems and assumptions)
    • The ESC Illusion (strategy for Stellar Conquest)
    • Ignoring Einstein and Newton (weapons in SF games)
    • Reviews: Siege of Minas Tirith, Star Probe, Tunnels & Trolls, War of the Worlds II
  • Number 4
    • "What’s in a Game" (Game Design)
    • Stellar Conquest - "ATK vs. 3 ESC: A Cursory Discouse on Probability" (Analysis), C. G. Mitchell III
    • 4000 A.D. - "I Have Seen the Future and it Doesn't Play Well" (Review), Neil Shapiro
    • Tunnels & Trolls - "Game Review: Tunnels and Trolls" (Review), Larry Pound
    • Stellar Conquest - "The PFS Rip-off vs. Super MB" (Strategy / Variant), Avery Goodman
    • Empire of the Petal Throne - "Empire of the Petal Throne, A Review" (Review), Rick Mataka
    • Sorcerer - "Game Review: Sorceror" (Review), Glen Taylor
    • Lensman - "Review of Lensman" (Review), Scott Rusch
    • Triplanetary - "Triplanetary Review" (Review), Scott Rusch

1976

  • Issue #5 (30 pages)
    • Laser Weapons, Present and Future
    • Alack and Alas! (why that issue game was missing)
    • Ship Effectiveness in Stellar Conquest (analysis)
    • Interstellar War
    • Allocation of Bonus Industrial Output Units (Stellar Conquest analysis)
    • Reviews: Sorceror, White Bear and Red Moon, Starfleet Command, The Ythri
  • Issue #6 (30 pages)
    • Space War Games: Avoiding Cliches
    • Muggers! Muggers! (humour article – parody of Monsters! Monsters!)
    • Tips for Diabolical Dungeon Masters
    • Variations on a Theme: More Realism (Stellar Conquest fog of war variant)
    • Star Soldier: a Solitaire Game?
    • Stellar Conquest: the Colonization Gambit (strategy)
    • The Rule to End All Rules (variant for Triplanetary)
    • The Ythri: An Historical Appraisal (variant)
    • Empire of the Petal Throne fiction
    • Reviews: War of the Worlds II
  • Issue #7 (30 pages)
    • Intermediate Rules for Stellar Conquest (variant)
    • Orbiting Colonies
    • The Space Warship: Prognostications
    • Reviews: Star Command, Starship & Empire, Starship Troopers, Swords and Spells, The Ythri, Venerable Destruction
  • Issue #8 (30 pages)
    • Laser Weapons Compared to Projectile Weapons
    • The Soviet Manned Space Program: The Next Three Years
    • Stellar Conquest scenario
    • Suggested revisions for Triplanetary
    • Godsfire: designer’s notes, system sheets
    • Designers notes for Monsters! Monsters!
    • Reviews: Sorceror, Starship, Starship Troopers, the Ythri

1977

  • Issue #9 (32 pages)
    • Notes on the Ogre (designer’s notes and background)
    • The Bored Board (moving-planets variant for Triplanetary)
    • Weekend Warrior (fiction)
    • Iago’s Vow (fiction)
    • Take That, Dice! (use chits instead)
    • Reviews: Buffalo Castle (supplement for Tunnels & Trolls), Gods, Demigods and Heroes (D&D supplement), Outreach
  • Issue #10
    • Tank: Present, Future, OGRE (non-fiction on tank design trends)
    • Planetary Probabilities in Stellar Conquest (analysis)
    • Stellar Conquest: Alien Intelligences (variant for introducing alien races)
    • A System for Generating Complex Results with Six-Sided Dice
    • Duel (Ogre fiction)
    • The Dust from Bianias (fiction)
    • Reviews: Bunnies and Burrows (RPG), Metamorphosis Alpha
  • Issue #11 (48 pages)
    • Godsfire: prehistory, Designer’s notes, session replay
    • Chitin: I Designer’s notes, story line and game premise
    • Stellar Conquest Expanded (Using Starforce map with Stellar Conquest, part 1)
    • GEV (fiction)
    • Continental Siege Aircraft in Ogre (variant)
    • Reviews: After the Holocaust, Battle for Andromeda, Deathtrap Equalizer Dungeon (T&T supplement), Ogre, Rift Trooper, Starweb, Swords and Spells, War of the Sky Galleons
  • Issue #12 (48 pages)
    • Designer’s notes for Melee
    • Designer’s notes, errata, variants for Ogre
    • Designer’s response for Stellar Conquest
    • Game Intent – reviews of various SF/ fantasy games
    • Playing with Fire (Godsfire fiction)
    • Star Types in Starforce (using Starforce map in Stellar Conquest, part 2)
    • Iron Mountain (Ogre scenario and variant with new map, new counters and variant rules)
    • Ogre and the Fuzzy Wuzzy Fallacy (strategy and variant on the cloud-of-GEVs swarming tactic)
    • Empire of the Petal Throne fiction
    • Reviews: Nomad Gods, Ogre, Tunnels & Trolls, War of the Ring
  • Issue #13 (48 pages)
    • WarpWar designer’s introduction
    • Hit Probabilities in Melee
    • New Weapons for Melee
    • Chitin: I strategy
    • When Winning Hurts (analysis of and variant for Stellar Conquest victory conditions)
    • A Walk through Dragon Pass ((background to White Bear, Red Moon)
    • BPC Subs (Ogre naval variant introducing submarines and sea-going GEVs)
    • Meeting Teela Brown (Monsters! Monsters! character from Larry Niven’s Ringworld)
    • Ogre Meets Starship Troopers (variant introducing Ogre tanks)
    • Science Fiction and Fantasy Gaming: Our Own Genre? (comment)
    • Fool’s Choice (Stellar Conquest fiction)
    • Absolute Zero (comic strip)
    • Reviews: Chitin: I, Space Marines
  • Issue #14 (48 pages)
    • Designer’s notes for Rivets
    • Rules for Hymenopterans (Chitin:I bugs) in Melee
    • On the Creation of Star Maps
    • Rationale in SF Game Design
    • Modifications in Ogre (duel and solo scenario variations)
    • Scenarios for WarpWar (two-player and solo)
    • Absolute Zero (comic strip)
    • The Master’s Game (fiction)
    • Reviews: Star Empires (supplement to Star Probe), There and Back Again

1978

  • Issue #15 January-February 1978 (32 pages)
    • Designer’s notes for Wizard and Olympica
    • Byte the Bullet (computer gaming)
    • Robotics for TRAVELLER
    • Floating Hulks (WarpWar variant)
    • Ogre Update (differences between first and second editions)
    • Orcs and Their Weapons (variant for Melee)
    • Ya Wanna Buy A Used World? (fiction)
    • Hot Stuff! (poem)
    • Darnigame’s Alive and Unwell (humour)
    • Absolute Zero (comic strip)
    • Reviews: Imperium, Lords of Valetia
  • Issue #16 March-April 1978 (32 pages)
    • WarpWar tactics
    • Classical Warriors Simulated in Melee
    • Harmonious Fists in Melee (rules for unarmed combat)
    • Alpha Omega: Corrections and Revisions
    • Demons! (Moties in Melee)
    • Matchmaker (fiction)
    • Reviews: The Warlord Game, Atlantis 12,500 BC, War of the Ring, **Invasion America, UFO/Star Wars
  • Issue #17 May-June 1978 (32 pages)
    • GEV: Designer’s Introduction
    • Chitin: 1 strategy and tactics
    • Encounters of an Unlikely Kind (combining Ogre and Rivets)
    • Adjusted Orc Rules (fixes for article in #15)
    • Additional Units for Imperium
    • Modified Rules for Imperium
    • Designer’s Notebook (notes by Steve Jackson on upcoming games – some published eventually, some not)
    • Lucky Lady (fiction)
    • Reviews: Gondor, Sauron
  • Issue #18 July-August 1978 (32 pages)
    • Ice War: Designer’s Introduction
    • Referee, Declare Thyself (hints for role playing)
    • Red Guard (scenario for Invasion America)
    • The Great Northern War (variant for War of the Ring)
    • More Harmony for Fists in Melee (more unarmed combat rules)
    • Traveller Addendum Equipment and Weapons
    • Mounted Melee
    • Playtest (fiction)
    • Reviews: Starships and Spacemen, Mayday
  • Issue #19 September-October 1978 (32 pages)
    • Pond War (unplayable parody game by Allen Varney)
    • Adding Fear and Loathing to GEV
    • Combining WarpWar and Imperium
    • BattleFleet Mars: analysis
    • The Firing Line (fiction)
    • Reviews: Swords and Sorcery (two reviews, one good and one bad), Raumkrieg, Runequest
  • Issue #20 November-December 1978 (36 pages)
    • Scaling a Mountain (comments and variants for Olympica)
    • Psionics in Traveller
    • Tartars and Martyrs (outline for a game on converting Mongols to Christianity)
    • Reality in Melee (system for ancient warriors)
    • Those Rip-off Blues (consumer protection for game buyers)
    • More Optional Rules for Ice War
    • The Hazards of Wargaming (humour)
    • Starships and Spacemen designer’s notes
  • Issue #21 January-February 1979 (32 pages)
    • Interview with Dave Arneson
    • Running a Microgame Tournament
    • Playing the Odds at Ogre and GEV (notes on tactics)
    • Getting more from Black Hole
    • The Deryni (new race for Melee)
    • Juggernaut One (fiction)
    • Reviews: survey of spaceship miniatures and rules, Lords of the Middle Sea, Mind War, The Realm of Yolmi, Stomp!

1979

  • Issue #22 March-April 1979 (32 pages)
    • Ice War unit analysis and tactics
    • Beauty and the Beast (analysis of Black Hole)
    • Submission Impossible (how to write wargame articles)
    • Party Brawl (solitaire game using Wizard rules to simulate a drunken party)
    • Three Words (fiction)
    • Reviews: Mercenary, Spellmaker, Quest
  • Issue #23 May-June 1979 (32 pages)
    • Invasion of the Air-Eaters designer’s notes and multi-player scenario
    • Ice Ogre (combining Ogre and Ice War)
    • Primal Man, Primal War (Sticks and Stones expansion and scenario)
    • Know Thyself (personal evaluation system for Melee)
    • Attributes of the Deryni
    • The Valde (new character race for Melee)
    • Vikings in Melee
    • Soldier in the Sky (fiction)
    • The Harvest (fiction)
    • Reviews: Starfighter, Gunship 2000, Quazar
  • Issue #24 September-October 1979 (32 pages)
    • The Psychology of Wargaming
    • Black Hole Designer’s Introduction
    • Ships and Swords (naval Melee)
    • The Arch-Reaper (new unit for Chitin: 1)
    • The Four-Howitzer Defence in Ogre
    • Adding Monsters vs. Monsters to Creature That Ate Sheboygan
    • Reviews: John Carter of Mars, Strange New Worlds, Stargate
  • Issue #25 November-December 1979 (32 pages)
    • Special Stellar Conquest issue: articles on its third printing, strategies, expansions
    • Order out of Chaos (benefit cost analysis in wargaming)
    • Again, Harmonious Fists (more unarmed combat rules for Melee)
    • The Case of the Missing Micros (humour)
    • The Unwritten Rules of Rivets (hints on play)
    • Everyday Life in The Fantasy Trip
    • Reviews: Cyborg, Star Fleet Battles

1980

  • Issue #26 January-February 1980 (56 pages)
    • The Psychopathology of Wargamers (commentary)
    • Some Variations on Wizard
    • One World Designer’s notes
    • A Variety of Hobbits
    • Defensive Tactics and Strategy in GEV
    • Rerum Novarum (account of some kid’s 8th grade grad party where he played life-size Melee with his friends)
    • Operation Boltcutter (new scenario putting humans back into Rivets)
    • Heroism and Happenstance in a World Gone Mad… Sort Of (fiction)
    • Reviews: Dune, The Awful Green Things from Outer Space, Wizard’s Quest
    • 16 – page Spring 1980 Metagaming catalogue bound in

This was the final issue of The Space Gamer as a Metagaming organ, with Howard Thompson as publisher. It included a Statement of Ownership, Management and Circulation that specified a total press run of 8,500 copies, with a paid circulation of 5,800 (2,449 sales copies, 3, 351 mail subscription copies).

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