Operation Market-Garden 75th Anniversary Encore Performance by King & Country Military Miniatures

The Red Devils are resurrected. What had been thought to be a Last Post for King & Country’s Market-Garden Series was premature. On the occasion of the 75^thAnniversary of Operation Market-Garden, the Battle of Arnhem/Oosterbeek, the company has issued an additional increment of figures, a new fighting vehicle, and an assault glider.

MG076 Planning Market Garden - Paralleling their set commemorating the 75^thAnniversary of D-Day, this is a 5 piece set depicting a large map board showing the overall operation and theArnhem/Ooosterbeek area, surrounded by four of the significant leaders of the operation; LtGen Frederick “Boy” Browning, LtGen Sir Brian Gwynne Horrocks, MajGen Robert  E. “Roy” Urquhart, and Polish MajGen Stanslaw Sosabowski.

 MG077 On The Road To Arnhem - Three Paras in route to their objectives, one carrying a Bren light machine gun, one carrying a PIAT and his rifle, and a third carrying the standard container with three rounds of additional PIAT rounds.

MG078 A Para with his rifle at the ready, standing beside a large yellow ARNHEM road sign.

MG079 A pair of Paras, one sitting with his rifle at the ready, the other with a STEN machine carbine, also at the ready.

MG080 A three figure "Bren Gun Section"

MG081 A two figure set titled "Going Into The Attack".

MG082 "The Arnhem Vickers Set"

 MG083 This set is a Humber Mk I Armoured Reconnaissance Vehicle with the tactical markings of the Guards Armoured Division, and includes the figure of LCol (Later Brigadier) J.O.E. “Joe” Vandeleur of the Irish Guards.

AIR101 Airspeed Horsa Assault Glider – Believe this to be a very limited edition (group of 5 models) in 1:30 Scale; Wing Span: 84cm (27.08in), Length overall: 64cm (23.20in) most likely in mahogany wood. Suffices this is a rather pricey model.

These figures are all excellent, accurate, and very realistic sculptures. It is truly unfortunate that an apparent significant change in the painters, sealed patterns, and quality control (or combination), used by King & Country has resulted in a major error in the colors used in the Denison smocks (particularly the light khaki tan and the brown). Using the definitive reference "DENISON British Airborne Specialist Clothing From WW2 To The Present Day", B. Wilson, Military Mode Publishing, Hitchen, Herts. 2013, ISBN 978-1-62620-184-2, this author has diligently tried, without success, to find a single smock with the same colour combination as the entire recently released series. The closest being on pp.74-75. All their previous figures in the Market-Garden Series had the colour spot-on. This fact has been further exacerbated by the multiple grouping of figures, as well as a significant sharp increase in their pricing.

The reader can judge for themselves based on the following two images:

In all fairness, I purchased one of Set MG082 as a comparative example, and either the company has modified their paint colours in the Denisons, or whoever is doing their advertising photography may want to modify their lighting/filters, or otherwise hone their skills, because fortunately in real life at least, the colours of that set aren't quite as bad as they appear in the published images.