DISPATCHES
November 2025

Hi Guys,
     Welcome to this month’s batch of new releases which have a very strong WW2 flavour that I hope will appeal to quite a few of you.
     But before we get down to all of that here is a brief report on my most recent visit to the U.S. and my adventures in Texas, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia.
     First, I flew out to Dallas and then onto San Antonio on October 9.  Cathay Pacific, Hong Kong’s very own airline have recently introduced direct flights from here to Dallas Fort Worth which is the best and easiest way to get to San Antonio instead of transiting through LAX.
     The flight itself from HK to DFW took just 14 1/2 hours but with the aid of a good book, a great movie (‘WARFARE’) and some excellent food and inflight service it was, relatively speaking, ‘a walk in the park’.
     After a brief stopover at DFW I got the connecting flight to San Antonio and a short hop later arrived in the ‘Alamo City’.
     The main purpose of my Texas trip was to meet up with K&C’s cofounder, Mrs. Laura Johnson and see the structural changes we were making to our King & Country Texas store at 5945 Broadway in the beautiful Alamo Heights suburb of San Antonio.  In addition, I get to catch up with Ms. Amber our great store manager and our newest recruit Mike who is assisting Amber.
     During my 9 days in San Antonio we also set up a special evening event called, ‘Cocktails & Conversation with Andy’ where local friends and collectors came together to enjoy some excellent food, drinks and chat about all things toy soldiers, especially K&C but also to discuss new ideas and latest releases.
     Over a few hours more than 50 collectors attended and, I hope, a good time was had by all.
     From Texas I then flew on to Charlotte, North Carolina to meet up with Mr. Fred D’ Ambrosio, a very good friend and avid collector of our ‘Parade & Ceremonial’ figures as well as a few other K&C series, particularly our ‘Medieval Knights’ range.
     As it happens Fred was the man behind our exclusive and upcoming ‘Summerall Guard’ soldiers or to be more precise, the special parade unit of the ‘South Carolina Corps of Cadets’ better known as ‘The Citadel’.
     This unique military college is based in historic and beautiful Charleston S.C. which Fred had arranged for us to visit a few days later.
     However, before that we also met up with Mr. Dan Nance, an amazing artist who paints a wide range of colourful and highly detailed artworks depicting great battles and personalities that shaped world history as well as portraits of the warriors and military leaders that fought in them.
     In addition, Dan also designs and constructs amazing displays and dioramas covering the same historic subject matter.
     All of this and much more we saw when Fred and myself visited his new gallery and studio also located in a suburb of Charlotte.
     Following a brief 2 day stay in North Carolina, Fred and myself then drove down to Charleston itself to visit The Citadel, a college containing over 2,200 full-time Cadets.
     For half a day Fred showed me around this impressive establishment which obviously, has a strong military character with all the students in uniform (somewhat similar to West Point) and various artillery pieces, armour (including a Sherman tank) and even an ‘Apache’ helicopter on display in the grounds of the college.
     We also met up with one of the admin staff to show them our joint production of The Summerall Guard figures.
     One other interesting point…  The current President of The Citadel, General Glen Walters, a now-retired, four-star USMC General was also Deputy Commandant of the Marine Corps and an old acquaintance…  We met through a mutual Marine friend in San Diego almost 36 years before when General Walters was just a humble Captain!
     While in Charleston, Fred and yours truly also took the opportunity to visit the ‘USS Yorktown’ a decommissioned ‘Essex’ class aircraft carrier now moored alongside the ‘USS Laffey’ another WW2 veteran destroyer with an incredibly heroic wartime history fighting off dozens of kamikaze attacks in the Pacific.
     Both ships are moored alongside each other at Patriots Point just outside Charleston.  A fantastic destination for any WW2 history buff visiting this beautiful and historic city.
     After an all-too-brief couple of days in Charleston we drove on, once more, to Atlanta GA and the beautiful home of our next host, Mr. Craig Warner.
     Craig and myself met many years ago at the old ‘Chicago Toy Soldier Show’ in the Hyatt Hotel in Schaumburg near Chicago.  Over the years we have stayed in touch and last year, 2024, Craig invited me to visit Atlanta and view his own, very special WW2 diorama.  This features a massive 8’ x 6’ European town badly bombed and battered and being fought over by a trio of adversarial armies…  American, German and British!
     On this return visit for me it was great fun to inspect once more this incredibly detailed town model from every angle and position.  For Fred it was his first visit and he too was impressed by the enormity of this townscape and the hundreds of scale model figures (the majority being K&C) and the variety of the opposing armour and artillery fighting to capture the ruins of this 1:30 scale town.
 Over the next few days all three of us discussed history, politics and toy soldiers interspersed with some fine wine and delicious food thanks to Craig’s beautiful and talented wife Polly.
 On my last full day in Atlanta, Craig and myself drove to famous ‘Fort Benning’, (alas Fred had to return to North Carolina to visit an old friend).  This U.S. Army base was where the legendary John Wayne shot most of his Vietnam-inspired ‘Green Berets’ movie back in 1967.
‘Fort Benning’ is still a fully-operational U.S. Army establishment however it’s also the home of the National Infantry Museum which was our next destination.  Just a few hours drive from Atlanta this relatively new museum (opened in 2012) is a state-of-the-art museum using the very latest and most impressive display techniques to tell and illustrate the many stories and experiences of United States Infantrymen from the Revolutionary War in 1776 all the way up to the more modern conflicts in both Afghanistan and Iraq in recent times.
All of that and the many wars and battles fought in between are on show in this huge and spacious environment.
A very special mention must go to the life-size sculpted figures which populate the many tableaux that illustrate each conflict.  The uniform details and weaponry worn and carried by each infantryman on show is really excellent.  As are the vehicles and helicopters also on display.
If you ever come to Atlanta you simply must go to the National Infantry Museum at Fort Benning…  It is simply one of the finest military museums in the world day, don’t miss it!
A day later I prepared to fly out of the States and back to Hong Kong after one of my most enjoyable visits ever.
As usual, what makes business visits such as this most recent one so rewarding are the folks you encounter.
Friends and colleagues such as Laura, Fred and Craig are both generous in their hospitality and kindness but also generous with their own knowledge, creativity and time.
Early morning meetings, mid day discussions and late night suggestions and ideas with collectors and colleagues such as these guys are a very big part of what makes King & Country so different from many of our competitors.
I truly value the input and comments from far and wide which influence what K&C products we produce and which paths we take going forward.
This last trip was truly one of the very best and certainly one of the most productive for myself and King & Country… and importantly a whole lot of fun…  And that’s what collecting anything, including toy soldiers and / or military miniatures is all about at the end of the day.
Finally, a word of gratitude to Laura, Barbara and Polly… the ladies who provided their beautiful and very comfortable homes for me to stay in and delicious meals to enjoy in between all of these visits and many hours of toy soldier talk.
A very big THANKYOU!
And now boys and girls, let’s see what K&C has to offer this month…

1. BEING RELEASED THIS NOVEMBER…

1. “Rommel’s Wheels”

   As many collectors already know Field Marshal Erwin Rommel was probably the best known German commander of WW2 and one very senior officer who really believed in ‘leading from the front’.
Throughout his long military career Rommel would constantly go forward to see for himself what the situation was like at the frontline and how his soldiers were performing.
To that end he would utilize whatever vehicles were available to carry him and his personal staff forward.These two new vehicle sets portray Rommel in two very different battlefield locations at very different periods of WW2 history.




 

AK161  “Rommel’s Staff Car” (Afrika) General Erwin Rommel, commander of the Deutsche Afrika Korps from 1941-1943 stands up in the rear compartment of his Mercedes-Benz 320 ‘Cabriolet’ staff car and points out a local landmark to one of his staff officers sitting next to his personal driver.  Rommel is wearing his favourite, hard-wearing leather overcoat and a woolen scarf given to him by his wife.    Both staff officer and driver are wearing the tropical uniforms of the Afrika Korps complete with M41 DAK Field Caps.     All three figures are included with the vehicle. SPECIAL OFFER: Order your “Rommel’s Staff Car” (Afrika) now or before the end of December 2025 and save US$40 with Special ‘Early-Bird’ Offer Price of US$319.00.  After Jan. 1, 2026 the price will be US$359.       WH107 “Rommel’s Staff Car” (Normandy)     This second Rommel vehicle shows the now Field Marshal Erwin Rommel on a tour of inspection somewhere in Normandy just prior to the D.Day landings.     This time the Field Marshal is utilizing another Mercedes-Benz 320 ‘Cabriolet’ belonging to the elite Panzer Lehr Division as he inspects a part of Hitler’s famed ‘Atlantik wall’ defences.     On this occasion, Rommel is wearing the standard General’s Greatcoat complete with bright red labels.  His accompanying staff officer is wearing the traditional German officer’s tunic with Aide-de-Camp shoulder cords and carrying a brown leather briefcase containing maps of the local area.      A seated Wehrmacht driver completes the set while the ‘320’ itself is in the standard 3-colour camouflage of many German vehicles of this late war period. SPECIAL OFFER: Like the previous Rommel Staff Car set this ‘Normandy’ version comes with the Special ‘Early Bird’ Offer Price of US$329.00 after a reduction of US$40 and will also be available until 31 December 2025 after which from Jan. 1, 2026 the price will be US$369.

AVAILABLE: Mid November

B.“A VERY DIFFERENT KIND OF TRANSPORT”    

From moving around battlefields on land to sailing across vast seas and oceans and transporting soldiers and vehicles onto often hostile shores was the main purpose of a host of Allied amphibious craft that took the fight to the enemy and made victory possible.
One of the most essential types of Allied landing craft was the LCM (3), the Landing Craft Mechanised which was specifically designed to carry vehicles and personnel from ship to shore without the requirement of a pier or other land-based docking facilities.
Originally designed and manufactured by Higgins Industries of New Orleans its principal task was to land armoured vehicles, such as the 30 ton M4 Sherman tank, onto enemy beaches in the European and Pacific theatres of war.
Between 1942 and 1945 more than 8,600 LCM (3)s were built at no less than nine different shipyards on both coasts of the United States.
Alas no exact figures are available as to how many of these LCM (3)s were lost in action or indeed how few survived WW2.A small number were however operated on some of the inland rivers and waterways of South Vietnam during U.S. involvement in the 1960s and early 1970s.
Today a mere handful remain to be seen in a few museums around the world.
These two 1:30 scale models are K&C’s unique reminder of a great landing craft.

DD393 ‘US Navy LCM (3) Landing Craft Mechanised #48’             These particular LCM (3)s are the largest 1:30 scale Landing Craft models ever produced by King & Country.  Each waterline ship model measures 20” (51cm) in length and can easily accommodate either one of K&C’s own M4 Sheman tanks or a full load of 40-50 U.S. Infantry figures.             Each of our two LCM (3)s also include 3 x Crew figures (1 x Cox’n inside the cockpit plus 2x U.S. Navy sailors manning the .50 cal. Browning machine guns).       In addition: Each of this first batch of 200 x LCM (3)s also comes with a complimentary KnC D.Day Sherman Tank.       Production Details:  These waterline model LCM (3)s are manufactured using high quality, fiber glass hulls and superstructure with all-metal, hand-painted U.S. Navy figures plus machine guns and gun shields.             The cockpit and rear platform section is also removeable to reveal the hand-operated mechanism that lowers and raises the craft’s front loading ramp as required.             Two different hull numbers are available, #48 and #76 (please specify which you prefer when ordering).             Each individual model comes expertly packed in its own handsome full colour presentation box.  Just 100 of each of this initial batch of numbered hulls are available.

DD394 ‘US Navy LCM (3) Landing Craft Mechanised #76’             All of the details of this model are exactly the same as the previous      LCM (3) DD393.  The only difference is the hull number #76.

AVAILABLE: Mid November
 

C.“I’M DREAMING OF A WHITE CHRISTMAS…”