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I am slowly building up my first army of miniatures and I want to get some opinions on Portable Warfare (The Sergeant) and Sabol (Mark II, in particular). From what I can tell, these two bags are rather similar but I want to know if they differ in quality. If comparable quality, I will go with Sabol Mark II, because it would appear larger than Portable Warfare.

As a side note, I have looked at Battlefoam but I cannot afford it on my budget as a college student. Plus it looks to bulky and heavy for me to carry all over the place, as I don't drive. But I digress.

Sabol bags have a nice profile which makes them seem ideal but they are rather squishy. The soft foam Sabol uses doesn't help much. I've no idea about Portable Warfare bags.

Battlefoam has outstanding bags and uses more rigid foam but their bags are rather bulky. Foam trays, especially custome ones, are expensive from Battlefoam. I've no idea why it costs them so much to ship their stuff.

Personally, I prefer Portable Warfare's "BLU" foam if only because the material feels much more rigid and the rounded corners make removing trays easier. I feel that this is worth the slight expense, but Sabol trays work just as fine.

As for the bags, they're essentially identical. I own both and the huge difference is that the PW Sergeant zips all the way down and doesn't just open from the top. Also, the PW Sergeant is made of a nicer canvas-like outer material, but that's mostly irrelevant when both bags have the same interior.
Do you feel that the full-zipper is worth the slight extra expense?

Overall, both the PW bag and the trays are slightly better than the Sabol for a slightly higher price. I find the PW bag to be better, but the trays are essentially comparable.

As for Battlefoam:
The problem with Battlefoam is that their bags don't ft the standard-sized trays. They only fit Battlefoam foam. So once you dedicate yourself to a Battlefoam bag, you're stuck buying expensive Battlefoam trays for the lifetime of the bag.

BattleFoam does however make trays for other sized bags. Sabol I'm familiar with, not a huge fan of pluck foam. Can someone provide me a good link to Portable Warfare?

I love my Portable Warfare Bags, mainly for the amount and size of its pockets, the zipper, and the overall dimensions of the bag. When we go to conventions, its much easier for me to store all of our display and demo models in one/two Portable Warfare then to try and get a Battlefoam 1720 to fit in with the cooler, tables, displays, product, cash register, 3 adults and their personal stuff in the back of of Pont. Vibe.


I will offer the disclaimer that I am friends with the owner of Portable Warfare. I also do not care for pluck foam, and have gotten custom cut foam from Battlefoam and Outrider Hobbies.

Thank you for all the replies. As you can probably tell, I need all the help I can get.

Again, I cannot afford Battlefoam because I have a tight budget and no job. I understand that it is apparently worth the extra cash, but I won't get any extra money until summer and I want to be able to play 40k with my friends ASAP. I have to settle for Sabol or Portable Warfare for now.

Here is a link to see what the PW bag is like. As far as I know, this is the only size they have, which I think is only slightly smaller than Sable Mark II. http://www.portablewarfare.com/products/

I am defiantly starting to lean towards PW. As Absolutionis pointed out, there is that full-zipper which is a big plus. That feature probably makes fitting the foam in a bit easier and quicker. Also, like Cyporiean pointed out, I do like the large pockets, dimensions (which are similar to the Sabol, however), ect.

If cost is a factor, buy used...especially if you are going to find yourself with some extra $$ in the summer and can splurge on Battlefoam

Those cases are certainly nice and at a great price. Also as long as your not sending them cross country or anything like that it would seem as these would easily live up to everyday gaming uses.

I agree with what @Lormax said. I got my Army Transport Motorpool with foams for 35 shipped. Sure, it is used and sure the foams are custom to a previous loadout but hey, you can always buy new trays and recustom the trays with some foams lying around.

I am sure lots of your friends have foams they pluck out and just lying around.

Have you ever considered magnetising?

I bought a metal multi-level toolbox ($35, make sure it is tall enough for the vehicles), a few packets of magnets (20 magnets for $6) and a heap of 1/4 inch washers (3c each). Your prices may even be lower over in the USA.

The washers are glued underneath the minis' bases (obviously works best for round bases). Magnets are spaced evenly along the toolbox. Just place the mini on the magnet and it will stick there until you pull it off, they won't slide and will even stay in place when upside-down. However I can't say I've tried to do this with large metal models yet, mostly plastics (large and small) or small models.

I only got myself the apc from portable warfare and they are great!

Maybe also have a look at KR Multicase?

Sabol or KR multicase both are good choices.

I might go with a used bag. I would like to make sure it is reliable enough to use this semester and maybe even use it as extra storage space if I end up getting Battlefoam. If I see any promising used bags on eBay, I'll go for it.

Huh, I never heard of magnetizing them. It does sound interesting, but I am not sure if it is best for my needs. It sounds very heavy for me to carry around on campus and to/from my friends' houses. Also, it does not sound too space efficient. I'll keep it in mind if I ever need to expand, though.

I have never heard of KR Multicase. I'll take a look at some reviews.

Thank you, again! This is a big help.

KR is good for certain things, bulky or oddly shaped armies are not one of them.

Quality wise Portable Warfare bags are better then Sabol bags, plus they come with more outside pockets.

One of my prefered setups is a Portable Warfare bag filled with Battlefoam custom cute sabol size trays.

Also don't forget to check out the new Battlefoam Shield Bag.

Wow, I might be able to afford the Battlefoam Shield Bag! If I am not mistaken, this bag fits more standard-sized trays. This is defiantly an option. I'd be tight on money if I get it but from what I hear, it is worth it.

MythicalGerEllie wrote:Wow, I might be able to afford the Battlefoam Shield Bag! If I am not mistaken, this bag fits more standard-sized trays. This is defiantly an option. I'd be tight on money if I get it but from what I hear, it is worth it.

Just to throw some further information at you about the shield bag.

1 - It is not an armored bag, like the rest of Battlefoams line. This meens that it lacks the hard plastic inserts that their bags normally have, this makes it a soft sided bag much like Sabol or Portable Warfare.

2 - It uses Games Workshop sized trays.

Yes I was just looking at the description and realized it is soft. To be honest, I figured as much. I was also looking at the price of it when it is full ($60), but empty is $35. Totally in my budget, but I wonder if Battlefoam knows how to make soft bags…
More research is required. I’ll look for reviews. Thank you for the information and follow-up.

MythicalGerEllie wrote:Yes I was just looking at the description and realized it is soft. To be honest, I figured as much. I was also looking at the price of it when it is full ($60), but empty is $35. Totally in my budget, but I wonder if Battlefoam knows how to make soft bags…
More research is required. I’ll look for reviews. Thank you for the information and follow-up.

I can honestly say I've never been disappointed by a Battlefoam product and I have alot of them...

Portable Warfare is awesome.

Catyrpelius wrote:

MythicalGerEllie wrote:Yes I was just looking at the description and realized it is soft. To be honest, I figured as much. I was also looking at the price of it when it is full ($60), but empty is $35. Totally in my budget, but I wonder if Battlefoam knows how to make soft bags…
More research is required. I’ll look for reviews. Thank you for the information and follow-up.

I can honestly say I've never been disappointed by a Battlefoam product and I have alot of them...

I'll keep that in mind. Battlefoam has a loyal following and I bet they would not want to risk their reputation by making a low quality soft bag.

I can give a +1 for sabol army transport. I personally do not like Battlefoam's foam trays. I find the foam to be very rigid and unforgiving. I've had many arms, legs, and weapon tips suffer damage as a result of these trays.

Sabol is softer but still firm. Pluck foam is nice for my armies that don't fit into standard trays, Ogres and Daemons in particular. The base of the foam trays is a thin piece of neoprene, I think that provides a nice barrier between layers.

I don't see a huge difference between this and the blu foam from PW, but I haven't used the blu foam. The fact that the PW cases unzip all the way is a nice feature however. You're probably good with either company, I would just look at your costs and then go with that.

MythicalGerEllie wrote:Yes I was just looking at the description and realized it is soft. To be honest, I figured as much. I was also looking at the price of it when it is full ($60), but empty is $35. Totally in my budget, but I wonder if Battlefoam knows how to make soft bags…
More research is required. I’ll look for reviews. Thank you for the information and follow-up.

Note that if you do stick with the Battlefoam "Shield" bag, you'll be stuck with buying GW-sized trays for it exclusively. Not many companies go for that size.

The expense of a bag is mostly in its trays. It's best to plan ahead.

I have been thinking about this for a while and I think I am still going Portable Warfare, because I still prefer the overall structure of the bag (the front pockets for example) and I like the idea of being able to get another bag like this if I need the space and being able to stack it. That would be a good feature if I occasionally play games with more points, but not always need that extra space. I have been doing more research and I have heard many great things about this PW bag.

I have a bit of trouble finding many reviews for the Battlefoam Shield. I know BF has a demo, but I would like to see someone who is not biased review it and possibly compare it to other bags. I also know that it is a couple inches deeper and has a great reputation but something is bothering me that I can't quite put my finger on.

Sabol is just eating PW/BF's dust at this point.

I like Sabol. They were early supporters of Adepticon; all the bags I've bought from them are holding up great over the years. If I "retire" an army that's living in my Sabol trays I can usually repurpose the trays to transport other armies by plucking out squares from the foam.

MightyGodzilla wrote:BattleFoam does however make trays for other sized bags. Sabol I'm familiar with, not a huge fan of pluck foam. Can someone provide me a good link to Portable Warfare?

Portable Warfare is one of our advertisers over on Bartertown.
Here's a link to his Advertisers Forum:
http://www.bartertown.com/trading/viewforum.php?f=121

Here is a link to his profile on Bartertown (where you can PM him, if you want):
http://www.bartertown.com/trading/memberlist.php?mode=viewprofile&u=12320

And here is a link to the web site:
http://www.portablewarfare.com/

Currently, he provides Gray and green bags, but has a limited number of Chaos Pink (Breast Cancer Awareness) bags, as well as tactical orange (think "Hunter's Vest Orange") on their way.

I hope this helps.

Eric

I've owned all three brands of bags, and currently own at least one of each, a Platoon from Sabol that is unused but used to transport my Daemonhunters way back, Portable Warfare which held my WM army, and a 432 and Pack Go from Battlefoam. While I prefer the Battlefoam bags, which I've owned four now over the past couple of years, I have to say I'm quite fond of the Portable Warfare bag and Blufoam. If I wasn't transporting Land Raiders for my Black Templars I'd have just stuck with it when I quit Warmachine, as it is, if I ever do any air traveling and don't plan to take the Raiders, I'll probably buy some new foam and take it as it's small enough that I can use it as a carryon, but still large enough that I'm going to be able to fit 2k points on marines.

If you're really cheap (like me), you may want to consider gun cases. They use soft foam and are hard-sided so you're less likely to damage the models.

2 of these pistol cases hold 6 vehicles and at least 60 marine/terminator-sized models. You could probably fit more in if you were careful about how you lay them out.

The cases linked have two layers of "eggshell" foam and one layer of pluck foam.

WalMart tells me I can buy them for $10 each.

I don't own a PW bag (yet), but I will say that they have really great customer service. I emailed them early last year with a bunch of questions about their bags, and the guy I talked to was super helpful and responded very quickly to my emails. That alone counts for quite a bit in my book.

I really like my Sabol bags, though I just use them for transport to and from my FLGS and no heavy duty travelling so YMMV. I saw this thread in the DIY section and thought it was a great idea, if you're looking for a bag on the cheap that is sturdy and still looks nice it may be the way to go.