Raymond,
Here is a quote from the book about AN01. The only differences between the first release and second release of this set are (1) the sign is shorter in the first release and (2) the first release comes with a limited edition certificate.
"The first Arnhem set (and the first matt set), the Battle for the Bridge, AN01, went on sale Sunday, September 17, 1995 (I'm not kidding, the day and date of release are in the Flyer), the 50th anniversary of Operation Market-Garden, with AN02 available January, 1996. Each of the Arnhem sets (first production run - there were two) were limited to a production run of 500 (with a subsequent production run of an additional 500), and came in a special box with a limited edition certificate signed by several surviving paras from Operation Market Garden.
The release of this set heralded a change in Andy Neilson’s entire approach to toy soldier production. Following the lead of his competitors, Frontline, who released an entire series revolving around the Charge of the Light Brigade, Andy decided to focus strictly on World War II. At the first New York Symposium (March, 2005) Andy explained that he realized to capture the market King & Country would have to “do World War II to the Nth degree”, producing a wide enough range of WWII figures, vehicles, buildings, aircraft and accessories to enable a collector to recreate entire battle scenes accurately.
The Arnhem figures advent this entirely new era of King & Country production. Andy Neilson had recognized that World War II was not a war from the distant past, with quaint colorful anachronistic uniforms that lent themselves to a glossy, toyish appearance. It was a modern war, whose veterans were still living, vibrant fathers and grandfathers, who didn’t want their sons and grandsons seeing war as a colorful game. Accordingly, he employed a matt finish, to enable more realistic depictions of struggling, wounded, captured, or otherwise desperate men.
The figures, sculpted from Andy Neilson’s drawings, are in far more realistic action poses. Andy Neilson, a trained graphic artist, and a former Royal Marine who led patrols in Belfast during the early to mid-1970’s, used his own experiences moving through a hostile environment to assist him in posing the figures more naturally. Andy’s experiences enabled him to produce more lifelike figures, through details such as having the soldiers heads face in various directions instead of straight forward (as combat soldiers constantly swivel their heads, keeping a lookout) and having the equipment slung about the figures bodies to facilitate ease of movement, as real soldiers would. Additionally, the figures stand on bases graded to appear like the environment the soldiers are depicted to appear in (the Arnhem figures on gray bases similar in appearance to the roads in Arnhem, instead of smooth green or brown bases), many of which include details such as shell casings, overturned helmets or loose bricks at the soldiers’ feet. It was this level of realism and focus which pulled King & Country from the pack of toy soldier producers, and shoved it squarely to the forefront.
The first of these sets, AN01, the Battle for the Bridge, consisted of five figures: a radio operator, a para sniper, a bren gunner, a para firing a sten gun and a glider pilot. All of the figures in this series wear medium green para uniforms with tan belts, pouches and webbing, and a form of para headgear, either helmet or red beret. The radio operator squats low with a radio to his right ear and a pistol in his left hand, next to a white sign with black trim and lettering which reads “Arnhem 1 km”, wearing a dark green helmet with netting. The sniper kneels with a scoped Lee-Enfield rifle held to his right eye, wearing a red para beret. The Bren gunner stands, with the bren gun held at waist level, wearing a dark green helmet with netting. The para firing the sten gun holds it in a firing position at eye level, wearing a dark green helmet with netting. The glider pilot steps forward with his right foot (with an overturned German helmet on the base at his feet), holding a sten gun down and to the left, wearing a green polka-dotted scarf/neckerchief and a dark green helmet with netting. The set originally retailed for $128. . . .
In February, 2000, a second release of the original Arnhem series occurred, along with five new sets, AN012-AN016, including a polystone Bren Gun Carrier and polystone Daimler Armored Car and a huge wood Horsa Glider (only two 1:32 scale Horsa Gliders were produced according to Andy). The only differences between the first and second releases of the first 11 Arnhem sets are (1) the absence of limited edition cards in the second release and (2) the sign post for the sign on the stand of the radio operator in AN01 is much taller in the second release. Sets AN012-AN016, however, enjoy superior sculpting and more realistic camouflage uniforms."
It's a story Andy has told many times but perhaps Louis can add some more detail.
