Edgar Rice Burroughs wrote the eleven books that make up the Martian series between 1912 and 1950. Although the writing is up to his usual standard, the plots are repetitive and the 'science' is laughable, the series is a rollicking good read and also provides scope for a series of 'Hordes of the Things' army lists. Two lists for these books are presented in the original rules book, but they are incomplete and, in my opinion, slightly inaccurate. 'Barsoom' is the name given by Martians to their own world; Earth is called 'Jasoom'. Each of the following lists is designed to give a standard 24AP army and no more than half of the points can be spent on elements costing 3AP or more.

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The eleven books in the series are: 'A Princess of Mars', 'Gods of Mars', 'Warlord of Mars', 'Thuvia, Maid of Mars', 'Chessmen of Mars', 'Mastermind of Mars', 'Fighting Man of Mars', 'Swords of Mars', 'Synthetic Men of Mars', 'Llana of Gathol' and 'John Carter of Mars'.

Peter Pig do very nice ready made Green and Red Martian armies in 15mm. Many, many years ago Hinchcliffe used to do an extensive Martian range in 25mm, but these ceased to exist a long time ago and are probably hard to find.

Red Martian, Yellow Martian and Black Pirate

This list covers the majority humanoid race on Barsoom, the Red Martians, and covers all of their city states, including Helium, Ptarth, Kaol, Jahar, Dusar and so on. It also includes the less common but still humanoid Yellow Martians of the North Polar regions and the Black Pirates of the South Pole and Rift Valley. Other humanoid races either have their own lists or are not considered numerous enough to field an army. Red Martians and Black Pirates had radium rifles but preferred to fight at close quarters, hence their grading as Blades. Only the Twin Cities of Helium and their allies such as Ptarth, Kaol and Gathol seemed to produce men sufficiently super-human enough to be classed as Heroes. In the case of John Carter the element need not even have a retinue as he seems to have been virtually undefeatable even when on his own! Manator lacked the technology to produce fliers, but the Black Piratesused them extensively in their raids. The Yellow Martians protected their lands from aerial attack by use of a gigantic magnet which prevented use of fliers by them as well. Accordingly, no army opposing Yellow Martians may use fliers. Most Red Martian cities made use of Thoats for patrols and scouting; Gathol was famous for its Thoat herds and is therefore assumed to have more available for military purposes. Apts are fearsome creatures of the North Polar regions and there is some evidence for their domestication. Solon of Okar was an extremely old (even by Barsoomian standards) Yellow Martian rated by John Carter as the finest swordsman he ever faced. The city of Jahar tried to create a huge army to defeat Helium by a forced breeding program. This produced over-population in some areas and resulted in the inhabitants resorting to cannibalism to survive. Phor Tak was a master scientist who developed a number of weapons to aid Jahar against Helium, chief amongst them being a disintigration ray. Rating him as a Magician best reflects his abilities and those of his weapons.

Click here for a sample Heliumitic army and here for some pictures of it.

Click here for a sample Black Pirate army and here for some pictures of it.

Click here for a sample Jahar army and here for some pictures of it.

Green Martian

This list covers all of the Green Martian nomad hordes that roamed the dead-sea bottoms of Barsoom. Most were hostile not only to other Barsoomian races but to other Green Martian hordes as well. Thark was an exception in that it was allied to Helium due to the friendship between their leader Tars Tarkas and John Carter. Green Martians generally fought mounted but were capable of fighting on foot if need be. Their impetuous desire to close to hand-to-hand combat whilst mounted along with their large size almost requires their classification as Knights. They were capable of shooting their radium rifles with almost legendary skill, but only tended to use them against enemy fliers. Some form of anti-aircraft artillery was also available, but since it was fairly static and used to protect a horde's current base it can be considered to be part of the Stronghold's defences. Calots are the Barsoomian equivalent of the dog, although they have more legs and teeth than an Earth canine and are the size of a Shetland pony ! Although they domesticated a mastodon like creature called a Zitidar there is no evidence of Green Martians using them in war.

Click here for a sample army, and here for a picture of it.

Holy Thern

The White Martian Holy Therns made up a priest caste in Barsoomian society until exposed a frauds by John Carter. The vast majority of them lived near the South Pole in the Valley Dor, the Martian ‘Heaven’ where they enslaved other Barsoomians who made the pilgrimage there. The Valley Dor also contained many fearsome creatures which were used to destroy those Barsoomians not enslaved. For the purposes of this list it is assumed that the Therns had some measure of control over these creatures. Banths are the fearsome Barsoomian lion. White Apes are gigantic four-armed hairless gorilla-like creatures. The Plant Men are mindless, mobile, humanoid plant creatures with a taste for human flesh.

Lothar

The hidden city of Lothar contained a small population of the almost extinct White Martians. Possessing amazing mental powers the inhabitants created an illusionary army of bowmen to fight their mortal enemies, the Green Martian horde of Torquas. These illusions could kill as long as the viewer believed in their reality. Tario is the Jeddak (or leader ) of Lothar, and the most powerful illusionist. The list allows Lothar to field small numbers of competent bowmen or larger numbers of lesser men or a mixture. Illusionary Banths fought alongside the troops, but a few real ones were mixed in with them as a nasty surprise and to clean up the battlefield afterwards.

Click here for a sample army and here for some pictures of it.

Hormad

Hormad were synthetic humanoids created by the master scientist Ras Thavas in the deserted city of Morbus. Grown from huge vats of undifferentiated organic material they tended to lack symmetry and in many cases intelligence. However they were virtually indestructible; severed limbs would carry on moving, severed heads could still carry on conversations. Only fire could completely destroy a Hormad. They captured humanoid Martians and transferred the brains of the more intelligent Hormads into their bodies. Lacking fliers they travelled on genetically engineered giant birds. A growth vat once went out of control and threatened to engulf not only Morbus but the whole of Barsoom. It is assumed here that a more controlled form of this accident could be used to create a fearsome opponent.

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