Figures for Malaya

I'm still debating the best way to go about doing the Malayan Emergency as a skirmish level game. The obvious choice would be to go for the new 28mm Inkerman range of figures which has been designed for just this in mind. This would be perfect for 1:1 skirmish level patrols and ambushes but I'd need to do a lot of one off terrain building and there are very few vehicles that could be used, apart from expensive kits and diecasts.

I also like the idea of a smaller scale with larger scale platoon level actions. I intially thought of 15mm but I don't think this would work unless all the figures were individually based. I would be able to reuse the terrain for AK47 and there are more vehicles available but there's no obvious range of figures to use, although the Peter Pig conversion option would be possible.

The Eureka Australians and Ghurkhas are also very nice and would be ideal with a little sanding down of the slouch hats into bush hats. I'd also have to cut off the bayonets on the rifles, as you can see in the picture above.

The other option is to go for 20mm and use WW2 or Vietnam ANZAC's for the British forces and something else converted into the CT's. However, there are very few Far East figures ranges available, with Eureka, SHQ, FAA and Britannia being the only ones I could track down that looked half way useable.

On the other hand, I could have a go at converting some Valiant plastic figures from the British Infantry boxed set as a cheap alternative. I have a box stashed somewhere too, which means that with a little green stuff and some imagination, I might be able to produce something that looks a bit like a jungle equipped commonwealth patrol. I might even be able to produce CT's with a little swapping and chopping of plastic bits from the US Infantry and British Infantry sets?

Worth a try anyway?