I don't think there are "Russian" or "English" styles of matt painting, all matt painting in the toy soldier industry was inspired by Russian style connoissuer figures. Prior to 1995, the only matt painted figures available were very expensive connoissuer figures, and all toy soldiers commonly available were glossy. Andy Neilson of King & Country saw the opportunity to make matt figures more affordable, creating a hybrid between toy soldiers and matt connoissuer figures with the release of his Arnhem series in September, 1995. This innovation may have been inspired in part by the actions of a couple of smaller makers like John Lesinski and HM of Great Britain, which did some limited production about this time in matt as well.
At the time, the matt figures produced in fairly large quantity as opposed to cottage industry levels of production by K&C, and, simultaeously or shortly thereafter, by another Hong Kong firm, Frontline, were not well received in the hobby, because (1) toy soldiers were supposed to be glossy and (2) they were made in China, by a company based in Hong Kong, and everyone knew that toy soldiers were made in Great Britain, while connoissuer figures were made in Great Britain (Chas. Stadden) or Russia (Aeroart). However, with the advent of polystone vehicles (another K&C innovation) which were far more affordable to produce and sell than die cast metal or museum quality wood vehicles, the matt figures caught on in a big way right around 1999 (aroung the time of the release of the D-Day series by K&C, which (fortuitously or otherwise) coincided with the release of the movie "Saving Private Ryan" by Steven Spielberg).
When the secondary market took off, demonstrating to manufacturers that collectors were willing to spend hundreds of dollars for single sets or vehicles, a few companies got the idea of taking toy soldiers even closer to the untra-realistic modelers approach to the hobby for vehicles (Figarti and Honour Bound), or the still far more expensive connoissuer approach championed by companies like Aeroart for figures (First Legion), raising the prices of vehicles from around $100 to around $200-300 and the price of figures from around $20 to around $50-75 for greater realism in sculpting and painting.
These new companies are closer to, but still not at the level of realism provided by the top Russian studios for their connoisseur figures, at a price somewhere between the price of more traditional toy soldiers and the very expensive connoissuer offerings. This provides yet another level of choice for the collector: Traditional Glossy toy soldiers (Little Legion, Imperial, Yeomanry, Tradition, Britains), matt toy soldiers (King & Country, John Jenkins Designs, Britains, Frontline, Collectors Showcase), semi-connoissuer vehicles (Figarti, John Jenkins Designs, First Legion), semi-connsoisseur figures (First Legion, St. George Cross) and full-fledged connoisseur figures (Aeroart and the other Russian studios), with each level having its own distinct price point for the average vehicle or figure.
It is this greater choice in quality and price which leads me to call this the "Golden Age" of Toy Soldier collecting. Having started collecting at a time when there really were only two choices, traditional glossy and expensive connoissuer, these added levels of quality and pricing make the hobby far more interesting to me.
