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Hello everyone. I am facing a problem of how to transport my models from home in a safe and cost-efficient way.
Before you ask, I have indeed heard of the dedicated suitcases. The thing is, for that kind of money, I could go and buy an equally sized toolbox (which would be full of tools), order a shipment for twelve tons of sponge and hire someone to cut holes in it. Wait, nevermind.


As of now, I put my models in a box with layers of tablecloth, bubblewrap and whatever else I can get my hands on. But in the long run, this isn't going to work (did I mention I play imperial guard?).

So, how does a wargamer best transport his models? The most efficient/creative ideas will win this here slab of cheese!

I remember before I got my hands on some battlefoam I made use of egg cartons for infantry and smaller units.

Well you kinda answered your own question there.
I have good experience with a nice, sturdy toolbox, filled with either foam I got from a textile shop or a cut-up foam mattress.
A sharp knife and some elbow grease later you got yourself an army transport.

I also heard good stories about guncases, but for non-americans those are tougher to hunt down and more expensive.

I'm in the same situation as you. At work, we throw out a lot of boxes/cardboard. So I found a box that was intact, with a lid. I also took home a crap ton of loose cardboard.

I then measured out how large a cubicle a 28mm figure would need, and built a grid of cardboard that fit into my box. I also made cubicles for 40mm bases, and my various vehicles. This is the perfect system. It is custom sized to my army (a 1500 point force), and didn't cost me a dime. It was a little labor intensive, however IMO this is the perfect solution for me.



This is the box I built. Though my entire army isn't present, you get the idea.

Very industrious.

I like these for armies that are in progress http://www.postpack.co.uk/acatalog/brown-slider-pack-foam%20lined.html and then I go with KR Multicases once the army's finished.

You get what you pay for, simple as that.

I use hardshelled minis foam cases. I can carry more stuff, more efficiently, with less breakage.

I use a Sabol Army Transport Battalion bag for my 2 elves armies. I didn't spend hundreds of dollars on minis to put them in cardboard and see something break every time I go to the lgs.

My armies are investments of money, and I protect those investments as best I can.

aerethan wrote:My armies are investments of money, and I protect those investments as best I can.

My armies are investments of TIME, which is hard to get back. If it were just money, I woudln't care at all.

Mastermind you will not get better value for money than with a KR Multicase in the UK as far as I am aware of.

Others look nicer, someone may even tell you that X's foam is better than Y's but unless you are going to be travelling along way by train or plane KR's cardcase will keep your army perfectly safe for less than £20.

They do covers and metal cases for reasonable prices too (I have one of these). Feldher are also reasonable and nice looking.

JohnHwangDD wrote:

aerethan wrote:My armies are investments of money, and I protect those investments as best I can.

My armies are investments of TIME, which is hard to get back. If it were just money, I woudln't care at all.

That and maybe in a few years my dudes will be OOP

I don't know if they sell Portable Warfare stuff on your side of the pond, but they make my favorite nerd purse and foam.

It's like a Sabol Army Transport but improved. The top and back zip all the way down to completely open the storage compartment and the pluck foam is great. That and it's only about $70 (so maybe forty or fifty quid?) fully loaded.

I really can't say enough good things about my bag. I even did a review on the local board with pictures and everything. Instead of sleeping. Just an awesome product.

A mate of mine used to use Ferroro Rocher boxes, the cells are surprisingly the perfect size....

notprop wrote:Mastermind you will not get better value for money than with a KR Multicase in the UK as far as I am aware of.

Others look nicer, someone may even tell you that X's foam is better than Y's but unless you are going to be travelling along way by train or plane KR's cardcase will keep your army perfectly safe for less than £20.

They do covers and metal cases for reasonable prices too (I have one of these). Feldher are also reasonable and nice looking.

Seconding this. They make a good, sensible design. Plan ahead what depth foam etc you need - for instance my case has 2 70mm deep trays, where if I'd thought ahead I could store my tanks better in 3 51mm trays.

I have a double-size aluminium case from them, (holds a full 2k points of Eldar with loads of vehicles) and have just ordered a standard size card case, which should hold 100+ IG infantry including HWTs. The idea is that when you want to go somewhere, you can turf some/all trays out of the aluminium case and switch them for those from the card. This is great for people like me, who want all their models boxed up safe and secure, but obviously don't want to buy hard cases for everything.

I use battle foam trays, but pack them in legal size cardboard boxes from Staples (office supply chain here in the us). I like the trays because they seem to hold more per flat than anything else outthere. With bigger collections, being able to carry it all in less bulk is important. I could care less about tje bags since my local is 3 blocks from my house; cardboard will do just fine. One box holds (2) 10" stacks of foam, which is damn near as much as a battlefoam 1520. This isnt the cheapest choice out there, but trying cheaper solutions like egg crate and the like end up taking vast amounts of space. I ended up spending close to 300 on battlefoam trays, but it stores over 10,000 points of Imperial Guard. Another cheap solution is sterilite. they make cheap plastic drawer units. I have cut out eggcrate and stacked them in the larger sterilite shelves as well. Really, what you end up doing here is selecting a solution that not only can hold all your stuff, but protect it to the level you need and not require a trailer to move around.

Geez, can we get a sticky or article on this already? I would write an article, but I only have sabol cases so I cant really give a fair review of other companies.

All the following (and possibly more?) do carry cases for wargaming models. Most are pick+pluck but some do cut-outs (notably KR and Battlefoam)

Games Workshop
BattleFoam
Sabol Designs
KR Multicase
Figures in Comfor
Portable Warfare
Feldherr
Crystal Caste Battlehive

Shoebox! That's what I use. Then again my models don't go far and sit on my car seat.

i use sabol for khador and lizardmen. pick and pluck is percectly fine stuff, but between the size of the cubes and the skinny trays you end up with a lot less stored per tray. I wont be converting those armies to battlefoam because they are already perfectly fine and the foam is bought and paid for. that, and with the all metal khador force, the smaller trays mean a lot less sag than something like battlefoam might experience. that is supposition, never tried an all metal jack force in battlefoam, but it seems pretty much so to me. i also use sabol for my fow collection, but that again is more due to having legacy foam lying about. I bought a bunch on sale at one point and thosr armies prolly wont ever be expanding much.

I saw this and thought it quite ingenious. A metal toolbox, and magnets under all your bases. Your models just cling to the walls, floors and top of the toolbox and depending on the strength of the magnet, won't move much.

Trasvi wrote:Geez, can we get a sticky or article on this already? I would write an article, but I only have sabol cases so I cant really give a fair review of other companies.

All the following (and possibly more?) do carry cases for wargaming models. Most are pick+pluck but some do cut-outs (notably KR and Battlefoam)
Figures in Comfor

I was really dissapointed with my Figures in Comfort Multi case. The case is extremely soft - nothing to prevent crushing at all. Also, the trays have fairly hard bottoms so you need to ensure that every tiny part sits below the tray top or it invariably gets broken. Coarse pluck foam makes for inefficient packing. Price wasn't great either.

bsohi wrote:I saw this and thought it quite ingenious. A metal toolbox, and magnets under all your bases. Your models just cling to the walls, floors and top of the toolbox and depending on the strength of the magnet, won't move much.

The one problem with magnetic storage systems is that a shock can dislodge them. If you drop the box then expect every model not attached to whichever side was down when it hit the deck to come loose.

I can see the problem with magnetic storage re big shocks. Also seems like it would be relatively inefficient in terms of space, you'd need a bigger (and much heavier) toolbox to transport a full army than a foam case.