The Barsoomian Front

Mat and I played our long anticipated Blusian versus Barsoom battle over two days and ten moves. Mat decided to take the side of the Blusian Earthling invaders against my numerically superior and tougher Barsoomians (Martians). Most of my troops do not have ranged weapons and rely on getting in close with overwhelming the numbers. 

Barsoom radium rifle warriors from Helium


   Blusian troops prepare a firing line; in the meantime the large sand dunes largely conceal the advancing Martians.

                                     The Martians are concentrated towards the North-West as they are otherwise blocked by a mighty chasm in the South-East.

                                    In the foreground can be seen the allied Green Martians.

                                              The Busian Earthmen move up a machine gun.

                           In the foreground Blusian infantry and an armored car exchange fire across the chasm with Martian Radium cannon and Martians with radium rifles and assault guns.

                Blusian cannon failed to get clear fields of fire. Lancers prepare for any Barsoomian infiltration or flank attack.

                          Masses of the powerful Synthetic men advance towards the Blusian lines.

               The Blusian elite zouaves pour in rifle fire but the Synthetic men march on even when arms and even heads dangle by a few threads of skin and muscle.

     Many of the Synthetic men have been given exceptionally colorful costumes by their scientist 'father'.

                  Green Martians man the two radium cannons one on each side of the battlefield. The one in the South-West lost its crew to enemy shooting early in the battle.

          The stealthy John Carter and his sword and radium pistol armed troops arrive on the Blusians' Northern flank. The lancers charge them but are destroyed by radium pistol fire and the excellent swordsmanship of John Carter and his swordsmen and women.

               
 The Synthetic men facing these zouaves are of imposing stature and oddly resemble ancient Earth Egyptians.

 John Carter's flank attack is met by lancers. In the Middle can be seen the Blusian commander's body guard of animal human hybrids and colonial cavalry.

                     Red Martians in wild outfits and a thought controlled Martian lion advance. The lion hesitates to attack the Earthmen.

                             The Busian general's body guard consists of colonial cavalry and the human animal hybrids produced by Blusia's best scientist. With a flank attack hey chase  this unit of Synthetic men and another unit of radium rifle men off the field.

 John Carter with his swordsmen and women presses the attack and comes under heavy fire before closing in for melee.

                   Meanwhile another unit of Blusians pushes back and destoys a unit of Blusian warriors.

                      But they have pressed deeply into Martian lines and a fresh unit has turned to meet them.

                                     The Martian general yells encouragement and his elite 'White Spots'cheer.

     Meanwhile the lion has finally charged the armored car. Strong though the lion is it fails to penetrate the armor. Then it is riddled with machine gun bullets. It's last roar is more of a whimper as it closes its bulging green eyes.

                                  The Blusian commander joins the battle but John Carter turns to face him and, in a furious, attack kills the commander.

                                              The Synthetic men destroy the white clad unit of Blusians just as the other unit of Blusians is ushed back into them by john Carter and his warriors but then as his companions fall from their wounds John Carter is for a moment alone - until joined by the Synthetic men.

                                                        The Green men join the battle.

A unit of radium gun armed Martians move up (not seen here) and fire on the armored car which dispatched the lion. The car is now a wreck. Also shown here is the Red Martian controlled giant who fell earlier in the battle, riddled with bullets. (A thought controlled great White Ape met a similar fate.

                 A perilous moment for Carter before he receives the aid of the Synthetic men.

                                The impetuous Blusian unit mentioned earlier is here shown after it pushed too far forward to be swarmed by both Red and Green Martians. Here the Blusian officer is the last man standing but he does not survive.

                                    Here can be seen the remnant of the Blusian commander's foot guard. Recently they had driven Martians from the field but now they are about to be overwhelmed. The hero, Pierre Sadon (who wears breast plate and carries the reverse engineered blast pistol) briefly holds his own along with the other officer. (Later rumors suggest he went into captivity and recovered from his wounds). The Martians here include a regular Red Martian who has had his brain transferred to a larger synthetic body.

                                Synthetic men yell in triumph as they hear of the death of the enemy commander.

                                                         The destroyed armored car.

                          Cries of triumph as the Blusian army almost completely destroyed or vanquished...

CONCLUSION

Obviously, I did not have the time or inclination to specially convert the whole Martian/Barsoomian army but the stand-ins worked well and the over-sized Reamsa and other figures stood out as Synthetic men who were actually grown large in special vats. (Artistic license was used here as the Burroughs Synthetic men wore little and were particularly ugly and distorted in facial features).

The Martians had two units armed with long ranged weapons and one with pistols and swords. All the Earthlings had ranged weapons but my tactic of placing Synthetic men to the fore, supported by giant and beasts worked, especially as their initial advance was masked by the hill. The giant and ape absorbed much of initial shooting before being killed.

The Synthetic men were given two wounds to lose before they were killed which made them very dangerous in close combat, even with their low initiative.

Mat's failure to deploy his artillery where they could shoot was an advantage for me as they could have done much damage.

Nevertheless losing two units pushed off the board and then John Carter nearly overwhelmed were moments it looked like a Blusian victory could eventuate. Also mat's two armored cars could only be damaged by radium weapons as the powerful giant and two beasts lay dead. Fortuanately for me my unit I had earlier withdrawn into cover from a long range duel had reemerged to destroy one of the armored cars.

Killing Blusian Commander Matrel was another turning point as then all the Blusian units had to take morale tests and to select a new leader, Some small units then fled.

Mat and I used similar rules to our last fantasy game with a combination of Funny Little Wars and Warhammer. The game reminded me of a colonial game but with especially souped up 'natives'.

Our next wargame will most likely be ACW in the South West - Arizona or New Mexico.