KING & COUNTRY DISPATCHES -- April 2024 (1 Viewer)

[King & Country]

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KING & COUNTRY DISPATCHES
April 2024​

Hi Guys,
Welcome to the month of April and a nice little selection of new releases to add to some of our K&C collections.
And so, without further ado, let’s see what’s coming out this month…

1. Available This April...
A. ‘Right Royal Regimentals


’Joining our ‘CEREMONIAL’ collection are two very special mounted figures from The Blues & Royals, one of the two British Cavalry regiments that together provide horse and men for the Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment. This unique regiment provides the mounted escort for the reigning Monarch at many ceremonial and state occasions throughout the year.
Resplendent in their navy blue tunics and dress uniforms they are a familiar and popular sight for hundreds of thousands of visitors to London each year.
While taking part in their ‘public duties’ two particular members of the Regiment can often be seen on the most prominent and important of those occasions…

CE097 The Blues & Royals Drum horse ‘HORATIUS’
Each of the Household Cavalry Regiments, The Life Guards and The Blues & Royals have a pair of Drum Horses who combine the size and stature of the ‘Shire’ and ‘Clydesdale’ breeds and are specially trained over many months to accompany the combined mounted band of the HCMR.
One of the long-standing traditions of these beautiful animals is that they are given classical names from ancient history such as ‘HECTOR’, ‘SPARTACUS’ and ‘MERCURY’… This all-new Blues & Royals Drum Horse is no exception and has been christened ‘HORATIUS’.
Striding powerfully forward the drummer / handler strikes out a steady beat on the Regimental Kettle Drums.



CE107 ‘The Princess Royal, Colonel of The Blues & Royals’
Queen ElizabethⅡ’s only daughter Princess Anne has been a highly talented horsewoman (as was her late mother) for many years. As a senior member of the Royal Family she was the first to compete in the Olympic Games and won a Gold Medal plus two Silver Medals at the European Eventing Championships in 1971 & 1975.
Among her many royal roles she is also the Colonel of The Blues & Royals and appears in their miliary dress uniform on certain occasions, most notably at the annual ‘Trooping The Colour’ parade held on Horse Guards Parade in front of the Monarch every June.
Our K&C figure of The Princess Royal shows her saluting to the front as she rides alongside other senior mounted officers of The Household Division.

 

[King & Country]

And now to a trio of dismounted guardsmen from the Coldstream Guards. All three are ‘Company Markers’ who take up position on Horseguards Parade before the beginning of the arrival of the seven companies from different Guards Regiments that will take part in the annual ‘Trooping The Colour’ ceremony.
Each marker will stand in a certain location on the parade ground where each company will move to as they begin their drills, inspection and the final march past.



CE105 ‘Marching Lance Sergeant Company Marker’
Only the five Guards Regiments (Grenadiers, Coldstream, Scots, Irish and Welsh) have the rank of ‘Lance Sergeant’ equivalent to a senior corporal with three white chevrons worn on the upper right arm of the scarlet dress tunic.
This particular Lance Sergeant carries his Company Marker Pennant over his right shoulder.



CE106 ‘At Attention Company Marker Corporal’
Standing smartly at attention this Corporal holds his Marker Pennant firmly by his side.



CE116 ‘Marching Company Marker Corporal’
One more junior NCO(Non Commissioned Officer) marching with his individual company pennant over his right shoulder.
Both of the above corporals have two white chevrons on their upper right arms denoting their rank.



AVAILABLE: Mid-Late April

 

[King & Country]

B. 'Hong Kong All Our Yesterdays'

From the colour and spectacle of London in the summer to the busy, bustling streets of Hong Kong during the 1960s and ‘70s…



HKY007 ‘The Bird Collector’
Early each morning and every evening towards sunset you will still see men and women taking their pet song birds to the nearest park or green area so that their feathered friends can enjoy some fresh air and good company.
With Hong Kong’s very limited living spaces keeping a small pet bird is still a popular past time.

 

[King & Country]

HKY016 ‘Typical Hong Kong Trolleys’ (Set of 2)
These small hand-pushed metal trolleys came into being after WW2 and are still a common sight throughout this ultra-modern city. Due to their compact size and durability they are perfect for navigating and transporting small to medium sized loads of anything and everything through the congested streets and narrow passageways of this amazing city.



HKY017 ‘The Vegetable Coolie and Cart’
These little carts transported a huge variety of produce especially from all kinds of wholesale street markets to every kind of food store and restaurant all over Hong Kong Island… Kowloon… and The New Territories.



HKY019 ‘The Delivery Coolie and Cart’
Another hard-working labourer pushes his little cart along the street transporting more packages and boxes of every product to all kinds of destinations throughout this once-British controlled territory.



HKY020 ‘The Waiting Coolie and His Cart’
In the old days these casual labourers would congregate in certain areas awaiting their next task, cart by their side.



AVAILABLE: Mid-April

 

[King & Country]

C. 'WONDERFUL, WONDERFUL COPENHAGEN'

It’s a long way again from the streets of Hong Kong to the streets of Denmark’s beautiful capitol city, Copenhagen but that’s where you will find our latest recruit to the Danish King’s Royal Lifeguards Regiment…



MRDG009 ‘Danish Life Guard At Attention’
This famous ceremonial regiment can be seen everyday marching from their barracks in central Copenhagen to take up their guard duties outside Amalienborg Palace, the official home of Denmark’s King.
Our latest Guardsman is adopting the peculiarly ‘Danish’ method of holding his M1 Rifle and Bayonet with folded arms.
This figure was designed to accompany the unique Danish Guard Box (CE098) and is wearing the #2 Dress Blue Tunic with crossed white belts carrying the sword and bayonet pair on one side and the ammunition pouch on the other.


AVAILABLE: Mid-April

 

[King & Country]

D. ‘APACHE WARPATH’


To complete the releases this month we’re moving once more back across the Atlantic all the way to the southwest states of America and the guerrilla war between the fiercesome Apache tribes battling the U.S. Cavalry during the 1880s.
Here are four more Apache warriors ready and waiting to ambush their enemies…

TRW187 ‘Standing Apache w/Carbine’



TRW188 ‘Crouching Apache w/Winchester’



TRW189 ‘Kneeling Apache w/Carbine’


TRW190 ‘Lying Prone Apache firing Carbine’


AVAILABLE: Mid-April

 

[King & Country]

2. BEING RETIRED

Well, as per normal as some items come in some others have to go out... Grab’em while you can!

FOB171	Lili Marleen
MK181	Hospitaller Casualty
MK187	Hospitaller Crossbowman Shouting
NA440	Napoleon's Mameluk Bodyguard Roustan
NA442	General Lasalle (1775-1809)
NA443	General Jean-Pierre Doumerc

And that’s the story so far my friends… lots more new items and a few great surprises in the coming months so look out for them but, before I go here’s a look at this month’s retirements.
All the best and … Happy Collecting!

Andy C. Neilson
Co-founder & Creative Director
King & Country​

 

[tenth of june]

2. BEING RETIRED

Well, as per normal as some items come in some others have to go out... Grab’em while you can!

FOB171	Lili Marleen
MK181	Hospitaller Casualty
MK187	Hospitaller Crossbowman Shouting
NA440	Napoleon's Mameluk Bodyguard Roustan
NA442	General Lasalle (1775-1809)
NA443	General Jean-Pierre Doumerc

View attachment 304441
View attachment 304442

And that’s the story so far my friends… lots more new items and a few great surprises in the coming months so look out for them but, before I go here’s a look at this month’s retirements.
All the best and … Happy Collecting!

Andy C. Neilson
Co-founder & Creative Director
King & Country​

Waited all morning and releases are something of an anticlimax, though I'm sure some will be delighted with the limited offerings. Anne and the guards looks good, but not for me. We'll soon see the DDay anniversary events; lets hope Andy has some grander offerings available then.

 

[Obee]

C. 'WONDERFUL, WONDERFUL COPENHAGEN'

It’s a long way again from the streets of Hong Kong to the streets of Denmark’s beautiful capitol city, Copenhagen but that’s where you will find our latest recruit to the Danish King’s Royal Lifeguards Regiment…

View attachment 304434

MRDG009 ‘Danish Life Guard At Attention’
AVAILABLE: Mid-April

Nice figure, but the Sentry Box will need a repaint ..... I'm sure that all the boxes around the palace now have the a 'F' instead of an 'M' following the coronation of King Frederik X this year !!!

Long may he reign ....

John

 

[jason foote]

Thanks Andy, loving the Apaches. They were so worth the wait.
Jas

 

[Horus]

Alas nothing for me this month, though the Ceremonials do look good, even if it's a range I don't have room to collect.

 

[Panzer ace]

The ceremonials will always take me back down memory lane, those types of figures are the reason why I now collect.

 

[King & Country]

Alas nothing for me this month, though the Ceremonials do look good, even if it's a range I don't have room to collect.

Alas none of us, including me, can collect every item we produce but… it sure is a whole lot of fun and creatively challenging to come up with such a broad and inclusive variety of historical subjects covering an amazing number of eras, month after month, year after year.

All the best and … onwards and upwards,
Andy.

P.S. Plus…It definitely beats working for a living!
A.

 

[jazzeum]

Andy,

When are we going to see some Arnhem. It’s been eons since there’s been any.

 

[jazzeum]

I just went through the last 18 months of dispatches and besides no Arnhem or MG releases, there weren’t any DD releases. They, besides the WS series, were a constant feature. Instead we seem to get ceremonials and whatnot constantly. I love the old ceremonials and have many of them but no DD? Do people not want them anymore? The only company that seems to be constantly making anything is WB.

 

[Horus]

Alas none of us, including me, can collect every item we produce but… it sure is a whole lot of fun and creatively challenging to come up with such a broad and inclusive variety of historical subjects covering an amazing number of eras, month after month, year after year.

All the best and … onwards and upwards,
Andy.

P.S. Plus…It definitely beats working for a living!
A.

Yep, even if it's not of a range not being collected and I suspect a lot of us feel the same, in that, it's always interesting to see what new offerings our wonderful hobby world of Toy Soldiers, are being produced and long may it continue, and I'm sure all of us will hope the new releases will be something in a range we collect ! ^&grin

 

[Barkmann]

Like the ceremonials, but my wallet and lack of space is a barrier to collecting everything i want too. Princess Anne look great.

Nothing for me, but with K & C i look on the bright side, it give me chance to spend my TS Funds on 'catching up' on sets i am missing, this month maybe a couple of the WW2 SS figures, the final couple of DD Brits i am missing and 3 of the latest Battle of the Bulge sets.

Pity the remainder stock sales initiative stopped, that was always my first stop if there were no releases i wanted.

 

[King & Country]

I just went through the last 18 months of dispatches and besides no Arnhem or MG releases, there weren’t any DD releases. They, besides the WS series, were a constant feature. Instead we seem to get ceremonials and whatnot constantly. I love the old ceremonials and have many of them but no DD? Do people not want them anymore? The only company that seems to be constantly making anything is WB.

Consider this…
K&C over the last 40 years has produced more Arnhem and D.Day figures, vehicles and landing craft than the rest of the metal toy soldier companies combined…

And much as I enjoyed doing all of them it was creatively and commercially good and healthy to take a break and explore other wars and other battles such as ‘Vietnam’…’The Middle East’ and ‘The Falklands’ to name but three.

At the same time, we have possibly the broadest range of series covering the widest span of many historical eras in the hobby and we try to design and produce items for those too so you will perhaps appreciate that it’s impossible to please all of the people all of the time…especially the relatively small number (including myself) who make the time and take the trouble to participate in forums such as this one.

Going forward, we already have ‘in the works’ more than a few figures and two special vehicles for D.Day and something else for Arnhem but I’ll leave that for later.

In The meantime…Adios for now,
Andy.

 

[jazzeum]

It’s all good to take a break but nothing in 18 months? Perhaps the WW II customer has taken his business elsewhere.

 

[King & Country]

It’s all good to take a break but nothing in 18 months? Perhaps the WW II customer has taken his business elsewhere.

18 months in 40 years is hardly an eternity!
And if a few WWII customers take their business elsewhere so be it…it’s still a mostly free world…and that’s up to them.