Since the Thais were the ones who sacked Angkor Wat, marking the Khmer kingdom's downfall, I had to get a Thai army as an opponent for my Khmers. The only problem is nobody makes a complete line of Thai figures in 15mm. Irregular makes an elephant, a cavalry figure and a swordsmen. And that's it. So, I did some studying as to what they should look like, then scoured various lines to come up with something that would work. Basically, I combined Irregular's Thai figures with appropriate poses from Falcon UK's Java/Malay line, and with an occaisonal Irregular Khmer figure or two, as well. So, the army was a bit of a pain to assemble, but it turned out very nicely.
Thai armies usually assigned infantrymen to escort their elephants. My sources claimed that one infantryman was detailed to march next to each leg of the elephant to protect it from enemy attack. So, thinking four would be overkill and crowd the bases, I put two infantrymen on each of the elephants' bases. I think it gives a nice effect. Another touch that I feel turned out well are the patterns on the elephant cloths. I went to a Thai restaurant and sketched patterns and colors I saw on thier decorations, then duplicated them on the elephants. The elephant miniatures themselves are typical of Irregular: They look crappy in the bag but really come alive once painted. Check out the ropes with gold bells suspended from the howdahs. I didn't really designate which of the two elephants stands was the general, as they were identical models.
So, this is the ONE Thai infantryman made by Irregular in their 15mm line. I thought since the army called for one stand of "4Aux," that I'd paint them up as a royal guard of sorts. My painting sources said that red and blue were a popular colors, so I I came up with a "uniform" based on that and the figure's equipment. I used a reddish leather color for the leather pteurges (straps protecting their thighs), then did an abstract pattern for a shield. I make no claims to detailed historical accuracy in my decisions, rather going with the "best guesses" of my sources.
Since Southeast Asia isn't exactly horse country, there are not a lot of cavalry in the region's armies, with the Thais being no exception. Of course, I painted up two stands of these since I did the army as double size. I was really happy with how these turned out, particularly the shields. I adapted designs I saw in Thai art into individualized shielf patterns and think they look good (well, maybe the light blue and gold "lighthouse" pattern is a bit over the top!). For the riders, I kept the red and blue colored themes, but mixed in different shades of these colors to give them more of an individual look.
This is the bulk of the army, and incidentally, proved the bulk of the work assembling figures to represent. For example, the front row in the picture shows two stands. The left two figures are Irregular Khmer, the third and fifth from the left are from the Falcon Java/Malay line, and the fourth and sixth are the Irregular Thai infantryman. The third one, by the way, is probably the most accurate figure I've seen on what an early Thai warrior looked like, according to my research, at least. So, when I was assembling my Falcon Malay army, I held back these figures and didn't mix them in with the rest of the Malays, knowing I'd eventually use them as Thais.
The DBA list for the Thai army gives a choice of either Bow or Psiloi for the archers in the army. I chose to field them as psiloi, reasoning that they'll better support the infantry that way. If I choose to make the bulk of the Thai infantry warbands, then I'll need some lighter troops. If I go with Auxilia, then the psiloi support will be useful. I realize taking them as bows would make them better against enemy mounted, but I figure the army's elephants are the best anti-mounted troops. Plus, I could "cheat" by using my Malay Bow stands if I felt I really needed to field them that way. Speaking of which, the firgures I used are for these are from Falcon's Java/Malay line. Many of the sources I'd read described Thais as often wearing turbans, so these seemed like the best fit.
I'd made quite a few of these Stupa type camps for other people and for sale, but I didn't own one for myself. So, it was an easy choice to do a camp with a stupa for the Thais. The Buddha statue is a small brass figurine I bought in Bangkok, painted dark gray and dry-brushed to look like stone. The porters are from Feudal Castings extremely useful "Oriental Peasants" pack that I modified to be carrying various items for the camp. The guard is a figure you've seen a number of other times on this page! The stupa -- as I describe elsewhere on my webpage -- is two wooden pieces from a craft line, Wood Shoppe Turnings: A wooden bell set on top of a wooden flower pot.
