In the land of Golden Demons

Thinking of other Asian cultures with unique striking visual elements I considered the Thai people. Not knowing the history of Thailand (considered established with the Ayutthaya Kingdom) yet aware of Angkor Wat (knowing it is in Cambodia) and seeing as there was a line of minis of Thai/Burmese I set about to learn how I could game in the gaps faithfully.

At the beginning I started with Angkor Wat and came to the history of the Khmer empire. This civilization isn’t as removed in time as might be thought of when looking at what we consider “ancient” peoples.

Stretching from approximately the 802-1431 CE the Khmer Empire was supposed to have been larger than the contemporaneous Byzantine Empire.

I crossed this with the fall of Khmer cultural influence with the rise and fall of the Ayutthaya Kingdom from approximately 1351-1767 CE.

Considering that there was a span of nine centuries to look at but about 80 years of consequence for transition its probably best to think of 1351-1431 CE as my play range for army assembly. Owing to the fact that these were neighboring peoples I doubt that there would be much difference in the armor and weaponry employed by either side. This isn’t a very well informed position initially as I know the Koryo existed with the Song Chinese and both were distinct in their materiel.

I then found a map of the Khmer Empire and a suspicious little dot marked Anghor Thom. Reading about the history of it being the final capital of the Khmer, its sack by the Ayutthaya and its location I decided that to be the place I based my force. I will modify the choice on what I find mythologically as I believe there’s great potential in monstering.