Encyclopedia wAARspite : Cambodia

Thanks for bringing that up Bruce, one dilemma I am having is personality conflicts with monarchs, errr I mean. Not all great leaders are conquerors as you suggested.

Earlier I talked about using dice to further establish a monarchs personality. I mean that in a simple way, just as you suggest above.

For example, Ang Chan in my game I portrayed as the glorious, conqueror. He certainly had all the stats to lead to such greatness. However his circumstances were that he was a great leader in a small Kingdom, it was natural for him to want to expand and glorify his people. Lets face it, you never would have noticed he was great had I just sat and did the best I could with a one province country.

However, lets say a man like Ang Chan starts up in a country as big as China. He wouldn’t necessarily be a conqueror. He may just do a really good job of building up the economy, defensive army, trade, technology, religion, diplomacy etc etc of China. He would still be great in comparison because he would do great internal things.

So yes, I am working on that issue, I think I am going to abandon the die roll though in favor of a common sense approach. What do i mean by that you ask? Sort of like I explain above. if a great leader comes into a country that is already huge and reached the extent of its conquest. Then he will likely work on solidifying the realm. Whereas if a great leader comes to a small country, I think he would or could be a great expansionist, be it by war, diplomacy or exploration.

King Barom Reachea II 1596-1598
Barom once again gave Cambodia a blow to stability with his poor leadership. Though he made an effort to pay off some of the Kingdoms debt. He denied cities their old rights, forced oppressive laws on the people and reduced pay to his soldiers resulting in many desertions. Thankfully, the army would not have to fight any wars, Yet. Barom wouldn't last long and he was murdered by his brother Barom Reachea III who took power in 1598.

King Barom Reachea III 1598-1600

Reachea III, made a small improvement in tolerance to his people. He heard the pleas of some nobles and allowed for an expedition to develop a trade post in Palawan which was completed in 1599. He stubbornly refused further exploration however to focus on domestic issues. He made efforts to enhance the trade of Tea products from the Lao Cai province in the north, which proved important to the struggling economy. Spices from the Mekong Delta also became a crucial element in the lucrative spice trade to Europe, if Cambodia was to climb out of its depression, that trade would need to be protected. This however would ultimately become the undoing of Cambodia as greedy eyes of her enemies sought the riches of the Mekong Delta and Khmer.

In 1598 a man named Wang Num took the army of underpaid veterans and rallied them to the days of Ang Chan. Revolts in Lao Cai were suppressed and he convinced King Reachea to pay the men more. The 30,000 man Cambodian army would need all they could for what was to come. King Barom Reachea III died in 1600 bringing his son Chao Ponhea Nhom to the throne and darker days ahead.

King Chao Ponhea Nhom 1600-1603
Despite the events that would occur during his short reign. King Chao was most favored of the recent Kings by the Nobility. He continued to help stabilize the economy and made attempts to improve foreign relations for the first time in years. Ironically, a back-breaking invasion from China in 1601 would end any hopes of keeping the last portions of the Ang Chan Empire intact. Had King Chao remained on the throne longer, he may have been able to work out a compromise with Cambodia’s many enemies to save the Kingdom from its looming fate. Unfortunately he would die in 1603 leaving the throne to his stubborn and foolish brother Barom Reachea IV. China with its much larger and better equipped army, crushed any Cambodian resistance. General Wang Num was defeated once and he retired his army to DaLat until the war ended in 1604 knowing any further resistance would cost him all his men.

The last words of King Chao, Feb 1603
Today does the last generation of children from Ang Chan wither. My beloved Kingdom trembles in pain as the dearest of old friends strikes a mortal wound into her heart. How sad is my soul to watch my people fall to ruin, to succumb to the hands of the enemy. I can do nothing now, My body shall pass to the whims of Siddhartha, my suffering shall not end. No, I shall pass into my next life and come to save a people, to Sangha I shall go, an eternal member.

FATE OF A HERO

Cambodian General Wang Num discusses trade with a Portuguese Merchant on the shores of Da Lat. The enemy armies continue to ravage the Cambodian lands, Wang has become desperate for a way to save his Kingdom if his leaders will not.

“I will pay you all that I own for your technology, these lances of fire will greatly help my men in combat. Without them we have no chance.”

“Ju av come the man me amigo, I av all the armas ju need bordo me navio, you come aboard and see.”

Wang went with the Portuguese to his ships off shore. Aboard was an assortment of wares from Europe and many other lands.

“So me amigo, what price ju pay for all de armas”

“I have taken all the Ivory I can from Khmer, My King does not know yet, however after we have beaten the enemy with the new weapons you have here, I know he will thank me for this.”

“OOOhh hoho, amigo ju a rich” The Portuguese merchants hair blew around with the wind, his unclean features accented his wide smile. The smile turned to a frown after a silent moment between the men. “Ju see amigo, you don’t have enough, ju must pay more”

Just then an Asian man stepped onto the deck from behind the merchant. It was an officer of Ayutthaya and his men surrounded General Wang quickly and kept him from defending himself. Holding him still, the merchant drew a sword.

“Ju see amigo, ju friend here pay me more, he also pay me for ju life” Wang gave a loud grunt as the merchants sword dug deep into his body.

The men laughed as the blood poured out of the wound, the sword was withdrawn. Wang peered at the enemy officer deeply as his sight faded on him and his head hung down. His body was tossed over board and the Cambodian soldiers ashore could be heard yelling. They know what had happened and they could only watch as the Portuguese ships sailed away leaving their country to its fate.

Thanks for that LT, yeah I have to admit I am on a stretch of bad dudes here. For your viewing pleasure I have included two screenshots. The first is 1570 just after Ang Chan you can see the empire he built and how strong the treasury is. Imagine that all fell apart to where you see the next pic where the Empire has crumbled and it only got worse from there as you have read.

By the way, in 1570 all of that dark grey is Cambodia, from Jakarta, Dai Viet, Palawan, and those two isolated ones to the left of the map.

http://www.geocities.com/warspite88/index3.html?1033335528650

(i really wanted to show handmade shots like I did before, but I cant remember how I converted the pic hehe so I cant do it again.)

King Barom Reachea IV 1603-1619

King Chetthai 1619

The waves of Chinese men swept like fire through a dry grass field. Cambodia was engulfed in terror and throws of her death. It seemed that once China struck first into the now lame Ox of Cambodia, the other scavengers followed. King Barom IV was a coward and left government to servants while he worked feverishly to gather the last riches of the Empire for himself. He neither aided his people or his army in the fight to survive.

By 1609 the Kingdoms of Ayutthaya, Dai Viet, Vientiane, Taungu and many others had invaded Cambodia from all sides. It was only a matter of time before any remnant of Cambodia was dashed. By the death of King Barom IV in 1619, all of the overseas colonies and trade markets had been lost. Only Angkor stood under the Cambodian Kings control. He was paying tribute to numerous Kings already and yet more was demanded. Debt was out of control, the treasury empty, the army non existent save for a few brave men who dared not see the King Undefended. 1619 King Chetthai II took the throne for only a few months and then the walls of Angkor fell. The King of DaiViet refused Chetthai the throne and the Kingdom of Cambodia had ceased to exist as a nation.

The once proud people who had all the cards stacked against them, who for 200 years built a legacy that lives on in History. Now drifted into a dark age of submission, fears and tears under the despotic rule of foreign leaders. Not much is known of the Cambodia people in the next 200 years. It would surely never know again the days of Glory under Ang Chan the Great.


well that does it for this experiment and AAR, I have to say I have not enjoyed a game this much since I first played EU early last year. It has opened new doors of opportunity for me. I hope you have enjoyed this AAR and maybe try the game yourself this way and Enjoy! Thanks again for reading folks, please join me soon for my next Monarch AAR, country not yet known

thanks much for the post Chris, I am already started on my next game like this. Hehe, it will be posted soon and I played a country I haven't tried ever, but I always wanted to try it. It will be a challenge with this style of play and thats why I tried them.

As for Cambodia, from my studies of that countries history. They infact did survive as an entity of some kind during this period. However they also were dominated by Kingdoms in the region from the beginning of the 15th century. You will find many Historians call the 15th to the 18th century the "Dark Age" of Cambodia because it was largely dominated by Vietnam and Thai Kings in the Period. The government is said to even have moved to the jungles to abandon the capital. Submitting to one King to resist the other (Thai and Viet).

You will find very little written about Cambodian history from the 15th-18th century becuase of its pseudo autonomy in that age, not much is recorded of Cambodia because it barely existed as a Kingdom. It could be compared to Hungary or Wales only without the detailed history.

Honestly my friend, I am very pleased with how things panned out in this AAR, despite my Empire with Ang Chan (not historic at all) the country deteriorated just as in real history because of decrepid leaders and pressure from outside (not china but Vietnam and Thai historically).

Now the next AAR

Thank you LT and LD, I am very pleased this worked so well and that you enjoyed it also. I really think you will like my Spain AAR because now I will have so much more to work with, plus to be honest it will be a huge challenge to play it the way I have explained.