''Warriors of Mars'' is a 1974

miniatures wargame Miniature wargaming is a form of wargaming in which military units are represented by miniature physical models on a model battlefield. The use of physical models to represent military units is in contrast to other tabletop wargames that use ...

rule book, written by

Gary Gygax Ernest Gary Gygax ( ; July 27, 1938 – March 4, 2008) was an American game designer and author best known for co-creating the pioneering role-playing game ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (''D&D'') with Dave Arneson. In the 1960s, Gygax created an ...

and

Brian Blume Brian John Blume (January 12, 1950 – March 27, 2020) was an American game designer and writer, principally known as a former business partner of Gary Gygax at TSR, Inc., original publishers of the fantasy role-playing game ''Dungeons & Dragon ...

and published by

Tactical Studies Rules TSR, Inc. was an American game publishing company, best known as the original publisher of ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (''D&D''). Its earliest incarnation, Tactical Studies Rules, was founded in October 1973 by Gary Gygax and Don Kaye. Gygax had been ...

. It simulates combat in the fantasy world of Barsoom, originally imagined by Edgar Rice Burroughs in his series of novels about

John Carter of Mars John Carter of Mars is a fictional Virginian soldier who acts as the initial protagonist of the Barsoom stories by Edgar Rice Burroughs. A veteran of the American Civil War, he is transported to the planet Mars, called Barsoom by its inhabita ...

. It is a 56-page booklet in the same style as the original ''Dungeons & Dragons'' books, even sharing the same artist Greg Bell.Steve Zieser
"Warriors of Mars"
''Iron Rationales'', August 28, 2010 Gygax and TSR published the rules without permission from Burroughs estate and soon after its release they issued a cease and desist order and the game was pulled from distribution. Because only a few copies were sold the book is now rare and sells for a high price.James Maliszewski
"Retrospective: Warriors of Mars"
''Grognardia'', March 14, 2012. The same year ''Warriors of Mars'' was published (and then un-published), Gygax published the first edition of ''Dungeons & Dragons'', where he paid homage to Burroughs in the last paragraph of the "Preface": :"Those wargamers who lack imagination, those who don't care for Burroughs' Martian adventures where John Carter is groping through black pits.. will not be likely to find DUNGEONS and DRAGONS to their taste."Gary Gygax, "Preface", ''Dungeons & Dragons'', first edition, 1974.

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* Miniature wargames Gary Gygax games TSR, Inc. games 1974 books Games and sports introduced in 1974 Barsoom {{wargame-stub