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Hi everyone

I've started an open article to hopefully answer the frequently asked question of 'what case should I get'. If you have a third-party figure case, please post a short review either in this thread, in the relevant article discussion thread or in the article itself.
Any short insight into how one case compares to another, your experiences and anything else would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!
Trasvi

Edit: Here is the article link. Remember, if you have something to add, you can edit the article yourself!

well, i bought a case expecting it to serve me awesomely.... truth was a cinderblock to the chin. My comment? GO TO YOUR FLGS FIRST!!!!! See if your FLGS has the same bag you are looking into, ask them to let you handle it, and let you fill it with foam and have a think. I bought my stuff in parts/separately, and stuff on paper/in theory is not the same thing as having to fill it with models.

If you've had a few bags already, I imagine its bloody easy planning it and envisioning exacly what you can fit in, but as a newbie, you can have unrealistic expectations of just what each diffferent tray does inside that bag. Best of all is if you have a friend that is willing to lend you their bag for testing purposes.

I'll list off what I have owned as well as the pros and cons of each.

Battlefoam 720 with custom custom layout.
Pros:
Held everything for my Marine army in one case
Held rulebook, codex, tokens
Cons:
Very large, was not easy to get in and out of my trunk, and was a bit of a pain to carry around
Cost, paid over 200.00 with shipping

Battlefoam Privateer Press Warmachine Bag
Pros:
Again, held a lot, I didn't even use half the space
Holds all of your supplies, and has a space for card sleeves and pages
Cons:
At the time I bought mine getting custom trays to fit the weirder shaped Legion of Everblight models required tracing
Cost again, it feels like you pay for the "name"

SSD APC case
Pros:
18" of Sabol Size foam in one stack means you can fit a lot in the case
Large pocket for books, templates, 2 medium size pockets for dice, tape measure, tokens
Opens from the top AND zips down the back
Cons:
No longer produced so hard to find
Foam is purchased separately, was about $100 total for foam and case.

Sabol Army Transport Mark II
Pros:
Opens from the back
Has a large front pocket for Codex, and mini rulebook
Cons:
Foam sold separately, so again, there is added cost
Smaller pockets aren't really good for holding dice cubes

Sabol Army Transport
Pros:
Foam included
Large pocket for codex, and mini rulebook
Available in most hobby shops
Cons:
Only opens from the top and unloading models can be a pain
Pluck foam it comes with can be of lower quality

I have not owned an Outrider Hobbies case, but I have ordered foam from them, and I have to say the workmanship is top notch. They just released a new half size version of their bag that I want to give a try as it's a perfect size for my low model count Grey Knight army.

I use the GW cases which have served me just fine in the past, problem is the foam isn't interchangable

The suggestion from GW staff was to but the monster case because its comes with changable foam, but at $80 AUS its not happening

@derek
Is the Battlefoam 720 worth it? i want to get one for my eldar since i know they can hold alot! was the qualite good/worth it?

KR card multicases are great imho.

For £20 you can get a card case with foam. Sure, they're not going to protect your army from being run over by a truck (or even stepped on to be honest). But they're so cheap they can double as storage boxes for your models as well as carrying cases. I own 3, and although they've all been patched up with tape and such they're still all really strong. They're also quite discrete (better than the goddamn Games Workshop one!) and extremely light.

Pros:
Good quality foam
Cheap
Light
Cheap
Did I already say Cheap?

Cons:
Made of Card (although thick), so provides as much protection a strong cardboard box with tight fitting foam inside. Suffice to say, drops and knocks and damage from carrying will not be an issue. But anything more serious will be.

I use the bigass GW rucksack (I think it is oop) with a citadel figure case (the bag fits 2).

I believe battlefoam sell foam that fits this case, though in the end I went with this to fill it http://www.easyfoam.co.uk/pick-n-pluck-foam.php. Ok, so in total the foam cost the same as a block of battlefoam, but you get a crapload of the stuff.

The citadel carry case will fit 2 pick and plucks (needs to be cut in half to fit, should note that the army carry case should fit them snugly without the need for cutting) and still have space for a single piece of the foam it came with origionally. This has allowed me to fit 6 sentinels, 2 chimeras and 36 guardsmen (to be honest you can double up the guardsmen in the cells and fit 72 in there) The depth of 2 pick and plucks fits a chimera on it's side perfectly by the way.

Part of me wishes I had gone with some battlefoam since the pick and pluck does not make the most efficient use of the space, and yet it does occur to me that for the same cost as 1 chunk of battlefoam I have enough of the stuff not only for 2 figure cases but also I can happily interchange them based on what I want to carry.

lunarman wrote:KR card multicases are great imho.

For £20 you can get a card case with foam. Sure, they're not going to protect your army from being run over by a truck (or even stepped on to be honest). But they're so cheap they can double as storage boxes for your models as well as carrying cases. I own 3, and although they've all been patched up with tape and such they're still all really strong. They're also quite discrete (better than the goddamn Games Workshop one!) and extremely light.

Pros:
Good quality foam
Cheap
Light
Cheap
Did I already say Cheap?

Cons:
Made of Card (although thick), so provides as much protection a strong cardboard box with tight fitting foam inside. Suffice to say, drops and knocks and damage from carrying will not be an issue. But anything more serious will be.

KR cases have been tested by being full of models and I think eggs and thrown out of a moving van.

My Card case has also survived having a bookcase come of the wall and fall ontop of it and stuck there throughout the day with the only damage being a slight tear in the box. Not a single model damaged...

Another recommendation for KR here. Don't be put off by the fact that it's card, I've been using my cases for years and the only damage they've ever taken is a slight dent on the side of one. (Models completely unharmed)

I also advise getting half sized trays, it's the same price and gives you much more flexibility transport wise.

I'll third the KR option.

I have both the card and the metal multicase.

I got the the metal for traveling about and the card for storage, but invarialy end up taking both! I plan to get quite a few more card ones for storage.

I originally planned on getting BF but Wayland didn't have any black bags at the time so I opted for KR as a cheap tide-me-over. A year and a half later I don't see any benefit in getting a BF bag (they are nice though) for me.

I stuggle to see any situation where the card one would not be enough protection for your minis, as for catastophic accidents like getting run over by a car etc I do not see many (ANY?) bags standing up to this short of a small gun case.

I also have a GW case which is okay since I got it free with paints but mostly it stays at home, only having plastic clips to keep it shut is just too risky.

Thanks for the reviews people! Article is getting updated as reviews come in. Anyone have experience with some of the less well known ones: Portable Warfare, Crystal Caste, Figures in Comfort...?

Some of the guys in our gaming club swear by the Figures in Comfort cases.

I have a Space Marine Custom cut loadout for the KR Triple Aliminium due for delivery in the next week. I'll pull a quick review together for your article with a lot of photos.

It's not a made-for-miniatures case, but I'm going to suggest the Plano 1401.

Pros: Cheap (10-20 bucks), holds alot of miniatures, is hard sided

Cons: You have to cut the holes yourself, requires the purchase of about 10 bucks in additional supplies.

http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/362407.page

notprop wrote:

I stuggle to see any situation where the card one would not be enough protection for your minis, as for catastophic accidents like getting run over by a car etc I do not see many (ANY?) bags standing up to this short of a small gun case.

Exactly! Your models should never be in danger anyway!

Eilif wrote:It's not a made-for-miniatures case, but I'm going to suggest the Plano 1401.
Pros: Cheap (10-20 bucks), holds alot of miniatures, is hard sided
Cons: You have to cut the holes yourself, requires the purchase of about 10 bucks in additional supplies.
http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/362407.page

Thanks Eilif, and I realise that you can make fantastic cases cutting your own foam (I have done this myself), but this article is intended specifically to compare the specifically made-for-minatures cases.