Pulp Figures/Crucible Crush Chinese for Bolt Action

I needed a break from Star Wars, so decided to delve back into historicals for a bit.  The Bolt Action WW2 rules allow for a unit of free local levies for Chinese armies, so I thought it was time to start building a dedicated squad that looked appropriately ragtag. I hadn't purchased any of the Pulp Figures/Crucible Crush Chinese before, so thought it was time to finally try them out.

I didn't want the figures to look fully civilian nor fully militarized, so thought the communist student militia packs offered a good balance between the two. Since my Chinese army is actually Nationalist, I decided to paint the figures as such rather than mix in a new faction.

To add variety to the unit, I went with a pack each of the peaked caps and peasant hats. The design of the communist caps is a little different than that of the Nationalists, but for 28mm, I think they are close enough.

The majority of the figures use one of three dollies, with only three unique poses across the two packs.  That said, enough additional details have been added that it's not glaring unless you look closely.

For the straw hats, I decided to add Nationalist markings based on a uniform photo from the excellent chinaww2.com site. I couldn't tell what the actual characters were from the photo, so did my best to reproduce the general shapes.  The Nationalist insignia was done using decals available from Brigade Games.  I then used a wash on the hats to bring out the texture and give everything a worn appearance.

Source: chinaww2.com

From a size perceptive, the Pulp/Crucible figures are a good match to Copplestone, being only a millimeter or two shorter. Weapons seem approximately the same scale. As such, I think they can be mixed in the same unit without problem.

Empress, Pulp/Crucible, Copplestone, Brigade Games

Overall, the Pulp/ Crucible figures are good.  The castings had minimal flash, though a few figures had pronounced seam-lines that couldn't be fully removed without destroying critical details on the figures. The sculpting is similar to Cobblestone, though I feel the details are flatter, particularly when it comes folds in the fabrics. This made them a little more challenging for my particular painting style, but I am happy with the final results.