Well, that's one collector's perspective...
No this is the perspective of many collectors, until 2015 all I collected was K & C and Britains, plus complimentary Conte. Now it is First Legion, T Gunn and John Jenkins.
Why?
K & C have got too expensive when compared with T Gunn and J Jenkins, when compared with quality, I am not sure the K & C quality has gone down or up by much but the other manufacturers has. The K & C prices have now moved up to near First Legion and I would rather a bit extra on F Legion Winter Napoleon figures than K & C.
K & C ranges are, in my opinion, stuck in a bit of rut, lot of same old same old styles and figures, US Paras [new] look like repaints, as are some of the new vehicles. New Israel range may appeal, but there were others like the Life of Jesus, King Arthur and the Dickens ranges, plus the Film link in range just does not do it for me and speaking to other people, them as well.
For example I collect the Battle of the Bulge range, 2016 releases were really poor and had a big price increase. Other ranges,
Medieval warriors - not a lot out lately, plus it is mixed with other periods such as the English Scottish war and King Arthur.
Napoleonic - bland and uninteresting recent releases.
German WW2 'Grey' vehicle sets - love these sets but we will have to see where they go...........
Buildings - the flat faced building are great, but look 'wrong' when next to each other as they have different design and sized pavements..............
Finally on K & C I see them going for prices way below what I paid, I buy for me but you like to think you are getting value for money. I have set myself a limit for there sets, for example the new winter FW190, I would not have paid the £259 in the UK, but at the show it was on sale for £180 and I snapped it up. Therefore I set a price for a set or just wait a few months and the prices drop from some dealers.
I am worried about what will happen to this company once Andy decides to call it a day and retire?
On another note I think as collectors we owe a big thanks to Andy, he has been the single person for me who done more for the toy soldier industry than anyone else in the last thirty years, pushing it forward and in a way forcing other companies in the industry to push themselves for better quality and standards of service.
Britains - quality is not great for me, prices gone up way above the quality, plus their delivery of new item is one of the poorest I have seen in anything, private and in my working life, They simply do not deliver, the new 88mm gun was first showed in picture around late 2014 or early 2015. Ranges have 'lost it'.
Zulu range is plainly boring now, War of the Nile has had very few releases, I started buying this range and the releases were so poor and infrequent I started on J Jenkins range and now I have three time more J Jenkins than Britain, because they are better and there were no releases from Britains.
Clash of Empires, as above, but the range jumps between periods and has not settled, now I thought they would concentrate on the period of around the battle for Fort Henry, I heard at an event they were looking at buildings/homestead and an attack on a homestead by raiding parties etc, plus the main battles.
History of the British Army etc - they exploded in price and the quality is the same [which is their USP], gloss painted and affordable, started at £9 and are now well over £22. They are simply just not worth it.
The manufacturers T Gunn, J Jenkins and First Legion are keeping me in the hobby.
