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How do you transport your Tyranid army?

I have a Tyranid army that has grown large enough that it warrants its
own carrying case. The problem is that due to Tyranid’s non-humanoid
shapes and myriad of spikes and talons (not to mention the size and
shape of monstrous creatures) they do not fit well in the foam trays
you can buy. I have a large plastic toolbox I can use for a carrier
but no padding or way to secure the models. What are some
recommendations on how to protect my mini’s from jostling and sliding
around in the toolbox (preferably without spending much money)?

Thanks!

I have something like 550 models worth of tyranids and there's just no reasonable way to transport them. Typical foam cases they will not fit into because of tails, flesh hooks, wings, flying bases, arms at weird angles, goddamn valkyrie bases, etc. People suggested I get custom foam trays, but the foam between the models just exponentially increases the total volume of space storing them takes up. I have arrived at two ways to accommodate myself.

1. Have all of your models stored on a shelf, somewhere upright, maybe in a large drawer or bow of something and section them off as best you can. Then when you know you're going to play a game try and plan your list out in advance if it all possible and only pack the models that you need. Doing this sometimes you can arrange something soft or hard case friendly and if not you can improvise something that wouldn't be so disastrous to your army's safety. It's also horrifically expensive.

PROS- You carry less weight, there's less risk of breakage or paint damage, and it's tidier to have each unit or base type sectioned into little drawers, shoe boxes or shelves.

CONS- You can't change your army dramatically on a whim and are stuck with what you brought.



2. Play tetris with your gaunts and/or buy packing foam, the little pieces they use when shipping things in the mail. The little foam ball, cup, or infinity or "8" shaped styrofoam bits they use. You can buy that at most packing stores. Just sprinkle in gaunts or packing foam amongst models and stick them in battleforce boxes or other containers.

Myself, I'll put the trygon on the bottom with the back touching the bottom of the ammo box and the base up against one of the sides. Then I put a bunch of gaunts at the bottom of my ammo box (which is about a foot long, 5 inches across, and 8 inches high) all around the trygon. Then I start putting in warriors tail down with their claws up. Once I've fit a bunch of warriors in I start layering genestealers. The flesh hooks and tails on the back poke between gaunts on the bottom and geniees on other layers and fit fairly snugly. While filling it's important to strategically place genies within the space between a talon and a body to maximize space and to prevent breaks. If a piece can't bent because there's a model in the way it's less likely to snap (the model not the glue, glue's a little weaker) due to weight or sudden shock. I repeat this process till I have all the warriors in. When placing the genies I try and have them on their back or side and never with the base side down unless there's a very good opening for it. The reason for this is weight from top down on genie easily snaps the feet from the base. I do this until all the close combat warriors, raveners, and venomthropes are in the box. Then I fill the remainder with hormagaunts by placing them on their backs and stacking them to the top. The hive guard, gun warriors, zoeys, tyrant guard, and the spinefist gaunts all go in one battleforce box. The medium models sit upright except the zoeys which lay on their backs in an alternating pattern of pointing two different directions, fill with gaunts to prevent shifting. Another battlefoce box is all my carnifexes and tyrants, lictors, and old ed tyrant guard, and I fill in all the gaps with rippers and spore mines. The big bugs and pewter bugs stand upright except for one tyrant who must be on his face. The last box is gargoyles all on their backs with the flying bases sticking up and filled with the remaining gaunts filled in all around. Doing that I have only had 14 cases of models breaking in four years. Six of those breaks were the same broodlord who's right arm likes to come off all the damn time. The rest was flesh hook ends, 1 genestealer coming off base, and one hormagaunt coming off base. These always ride next to me in the car or on my lap so they don't shake around a lot. I fix chipped paint once a month. Only my pewter models chip. None of the plastic or resin models have given me trouble.

PROS: It fits everything into a lot less space.

CONS: More likely to have models break, it's very time consuming depending on how much you use and where they are in the stack, and the damn tervigons do not fit in anything at all period. I have to just have those sitting separately in an open topped box due to their weird height and shape.


I may be somewhat crazy, but that's how I've been doing it. Method #1 is what I suggest.

http://us.battlefoam.com/categories/Battle-Foam-Trays-(15.5-x-12)/Warhammer-40K/Tyranids/

Battlefoam trays custom cut for tyranids

You could get a metallic case (e.g. a toolcase) and then glue some magnets under your bases

If you want to spend a decent amount, you can buy Pelican cases. They're waterproof, nigh on indestructible, and have the option of coming filled with perforated foam cubes that can be cut out to fit whatever you need to store.

And they look awesome.

Also you could magnetize every part of the large models so there arent any parts sticking out to get broken.

http://www.caseclub.com can cut any size thickness and area size of a sheet of pluck foam for you. all you have to do is add a bottom. Nids are not much harder to store than anything else, just have to think a little bit about it. BTW Pelican Cases are awesome, but expensive. SKB is slightly cheaper, and does the same thing.