KING & COUNTRY
DISPATCHES
FEBRUARY 2008
“KUNG HEI FAT CHOY!” or, in English, Happy Chinese New Year…
This is the “Year of the Rat” which may, or may not be, a good thing…
depending on how much you like rats or your point of view!
Anyway it’s certainly going to be a challenging year… that’s for sure.
So without further ado let’s get into this month’s “DISPATCHES”…
1. Being Released in February…
In the weeks, months and years
leading up to D.Day a lonely and often dangerous task
was to be a member of any organized resistance group in occupied
The Germans
were ruthless in their suppression and treatment of such opposition and many
brave men and women gave their lives to the cause of freedom. At the same time
collaborators and informers within these same occupied countries were also only
too happy to help the Germans in their cruel work.
As a tribute to Resistance
Forces everywhere K&C is proud to honour these
brave individuals with this first release of “French Forces of the Interior”
better known as the “FFI” or “Maquis”.
Three initial sets are being
released…
From behind cover these three
Resistance fighters take on the hated “Boches”.
A lying prone Bren gunner keeps the enemy heads down while another “Resistant”
prepares to throw a captured German “Potato Masher” at its previous
owners. A third figure guards the rear.
Another fighting threesome…
Using captured enemy weapons as well as air-dropped Allied ones these three “Resistants” make every shot count!
Blowing up
enemy communications… rail tracks… bridges… supply dumps… roadways was part and
parcel of normal resistance activities. One figure prepares to push the “plunger”
another fires a burst of Sten gun fire at the enemy.
SPECIAL NOTE: As was the style of “Irregular Forces”
everywhere the men are dressed in a motley mix of civilian clothes and bits and
pieces of military uniform. They proudly were their “tricolour”
armbands with the “Cross of
Availability: Mid February
B. “YOU CAN NEVER GET
TOO MUCH OF THE DESERT!”
Well, that’s my opinion (and
many collectors too I’m happy to say). Here’s a nice little Afrika Korps
bonus for all those guys who loved the Tunisian Tiger Limited Edition…
our fastest L.E. seller by the way.
AK040 “Afrika Korps Panzer IV”
This one is a real brute as well
as a real “beaut”. The much-requested all-new Panzer
IV complete with 5-man crew cruising along in the sands of
This snub-nosed
75mm gun version has desert features that include of course, extra fuel, water
and typical AK camouflage.
SPECIAL NOTE: A second Panzer IV in early war field g
In addition to this latest piece
of desert armour there’s also some welcome infantry
reinforcements for the AK as well… both singles and sets.
Always useful… this smartly
attired officer is not just out for an evening stroll…
Wearing the AK tropical sun
helmet this MP40 toting NCO is useful in many desert scenarios.
AK043
“Marching AK Corporal”
Rifle shouldered, this other NCO
makes a very nice companion piece to AK042.
AK044 “AK Vehicle Passengers” (Set 1)
This 3-man seated rifle set has
been designed to fit neatly into one side of our AK “Blitz” truck (bench
not included).
AK045 “AK Vehicle Passengers” (Set 2)
2-man add
on set… also seated… carrying MG34 and MP40 (bench not included).
Buy a few of these and you’ve
got the beginnings a nice little parade… patrol… or
guarding a vehicle park or petrol dump.
A new version of an old favourite 4 kneeling and sitting AK troopers… (Tiger
Tank not included!)
Availability: NOW!
APOLOGIES: Due to Chinese New Year and the present
terrible weather some products have had to be delayed. Among them is DD092
“The M24 Chaffee Tank” in Olive Drab. We hope to have this
model in mid to late March… sorry guys!
2. BEING RETIRED THIS MONTH…
A little bit of a mixed bag for
you to select from…
LAH041 “German Lampposts”… just a few left.
WS079 “The Winter Hummel”… a great looking self propelled gun and
crew.
WS074 “Motorcycle Combo Set”… the first of our revised and updated
motorcycle sets.
WS081 “Winter Kettenrad”… One of my favourites
but I’d like to produce some other versions in the not too distant future.
DD060 “The Staghound Armoured
Car”… Another of my own personal favourites and
a very useful vehicle for collectors of British and Commonwealth troops.
EA002 “Scottish Bagpiper”… One of the original “Desert War”
releases. We’ve got some replacements “in the works”.
EA010 “Dingo Scout Car”…. I’ve loved “Dingoes” ever since my
DINKY days. Not many left.
So, if there’s anything these
you like grab’em fast! Don’t hang about…
3. COMING IN MARCH…
In recent days there’s been much
speculation (as usual) about what K&C are going to release in this
first quarter…
On the Treefrog Forum there’s
some pretty wild guessing and some fairly shrewd analyzing. I hope, as usual,
we’ve got a few pleasant surprises for both collectors and dealers…
Just recently on K&C UK’s
television service I let slip (inadvertently) that K&C were
releasing the above figures. Well, after several years of just French and
British Napoleonics we thought we would cast our
creative net a wee bit wider. As you might imagine with Napoleonics
the choice of other countries armies to do is both wide and varied. Eventually
however we settled on the Russian Army circa 1812 and focused on
the men of the Guards Division specifically the famous “Preobrajenski Regiment”.
This first release features no
less than 11 infantry figures, 1 superb mounted officer and
an action-packed artillery set plus an individual artillery
officer.
All of them from the 5th Army
Corps Division of The Guard.
NA138 “Marching Rifleman”
NA139 “Marching Drummer”
NA140 “
NA141 “Standing at Attention”
NA142 “Kneeling Firing”
NA144 “Standing Firing”
NA145 “Standing Ready”
NA146 “Advancing w/ Rifle & Bayonet”
NA147 “Advancing Wounded
NA148 “Mounted Russian
NA149 “Russian Artillery Set”
Available: Early March
From
Although the motorcar was still
in its infancy it was not long before the Armies of both sides recognized its
military potential. Here is our second WWI vehicle — armour-plated
and mounting a Maxim’08 machine gun in a rotating top turret our early-war BUSSING-EBERHARDT
armoured car comes with a standing vehicle
commander.
From vehicular
horse power to genuine horse power… Five German “Uhlans” in action at the
gallop!
FW035 “Charging Uhlan
FW036 “Uhlan Bulger”
FW037 “Uhlan
Pointing Downward”
FW038 “Uhlan
Attacking Downward”
FW039 “Uhlan Pointing
Upward”
Special Note: “Uhlans” or
“Ulans” were originally Polish light cavalry
armed with a lance. The concept was adopted by first the French (under
Napoleon) and then the Prussians and Austrians. By 1914
Availability: Mid March
A great
alternative version to our Afrika Korps version. 5 completely new tank
crew figures plus a reconfigured vehicle itself. This model is
ideal for the “Fall of
Availability: Mid-late March
D. Imperial Chinese
Army
And finally, a very attractive
addition to our Imperial Chinese Army
collection…
Availability: Mid-late March
And that, as I normally write, is that. Once
again, many, many thanks for your continued support and belief in K&C and
our products. A couple of days ago we had one of our regular sessions to look
at the year ahead and our product ideas.
We dropped a few… added a lot…
and moved around a couple.
Although all will be revealed throughout the year I can promise you the
best, most exciting, most varied K&C collections in this coming twelve
months.
Best personal wishes!
Andy C. Neilson
Co-founder
& Creative Director