How do ya'll store your stuff?

[Xorlof]

I've been meaning to type up my storage system in detail because I think there are a couple of somewhat novel elements to it, but briefly I'll mention the strategy here.

Because I have so much terrain, I divide it up into long-term and short term storage. Short term storage is the stuff I actively work with.

First the long term stuff because it is a fun one to talk about. Long term storage is there to build stuff for tournaments or epic projects. The main goal for it is to be able to be efficiently packed (I only have so much space) and also to be quickly pulled by "sets." In other words, if I want 2 SotM and 2 TJ for a particular map, I can grab that quantity of terrain. (Trust me, that's handy. See D_S's regret above).

To do this, I use the idea of "storage bricks" pioneered by bunjee. If unfamiliar with the idea, have a look at this download where @AliasQTip documents a few different types. My storage bricks are different than others I've seen on the site in that mine always fit inside of the footprint of a two 24-hexers connected together to make a 48-hex rectangle--no protrusions. The reason why will become apparent in a bit. Like the original bricks, mine are also rubber banded together, and I can pull all of the tiled terrain for discrete set as a single unit very quickly. Those storage bricks work well for tiled terrain, but things like trees and glaciers go into a ziplock bag, one set per bag, again so it can be pulled as a discrete unit.

These bricks and bags go inside of Banker's Boxes (BBs):



I LOVE THEM for Heroscape storage! They are cheap, ubiquitous, durable, stackable, and importantly for our purposes, sized PERFECTLY to fit the 48-hexer-based bricks mentioned above. The length and height of a BB is PERFECT to store the bricks if you stand the up on their long edge. In this way, a single banker's box could be used to store 4 RoTV or 6 SoTM or I-dont-remember-how-many-BFTU with very little wasted space. Or you can mix-and-match sets in one box. If I pull 2 RoTV out of that of 4 RoTV box, there is now space to slot in 3 SoTM or perhaps 2 SoTM and a BftU or maybe you prefer 1 SoTM and 2 castle sets. It's very flexible and fills the boxes very fully. If this doesn't make sense, let me know and I'll take pictures.

The stuff in bags also goes in BBs. Nothing special about that, just a bunch of bags thrown in the box. Being bagged makes it very easy to pull exactly what I need (e.g., 2 bags of glaciers, 1 bag of jungle).

Remember how I said above I'm being brief? Well, it looks like I lied, but there are many details to this solution I will leave off to at least be be brief-er.

Short term terrain storage also goes in BBs, with a much more rough sort used. This stuff gets constantly reworked, so it doesn't make sense to be bundling and unbundling it into formal storage bricks.

The BBs are labelled on their end and placed on shelving. Voila--pretty much instant access to any terrain in my insanely large collection.

How about figures? They go in cardboard too, but not BBs. They go in BCW Card Houses:



Dice and other small bits also go in them. Here's an old picture of most of my official figures in storage:



Everything is strictly alphabetically (i.e., no sorting by attributes like size or general) and the name on the outside of the drawer is the first unit alphabetically that is stored in that drawer. Here's what it looks like if you open up one of the drawers (which are much deeper than they look in this picture--they go a lot further back (15-inches, IIRC)):



As you can see, big units fit fine in the drawers. Some of them do need wings removed before storage though (e.g., Zelrig, but not Sujoah as you can see in the picture).

The great thing about these card houses is that they mix very nicely with BBs. I don't have a good image of the whole collection handy, but here is an image from when I was cleaning out the basement and needed to store things (not on shelving) in the garage for a weekend:



The collection was a bit messier back then and also most of the box labels are facing the wall away from us, but you get the idea. (Things are much tidier now, but I'm not at home and as I said, I don't have a better picture handy.) Anyway, as you can see, the sizes of the two types of storage units work together very nicely. They also mix nicely with retail HS boxes. Heck, NIB figures and small terrain expansions and such even store nice and efficiently in the BBs.

In short, if you've got a lot of terrain, Bankers boxes are an awesome option for storage. If you're the type that needs to store things in plastic (maybe you need to control humidity or have critter issues), BBs are also available in that, but cost about three times as much as the cardboard (about $1.50 per box for cardboard and $4.50 for plastic--Walmart prices).

[DocBlizz]

Originally Posted by Xorlof

I've been meaning to type up my storage system in detail because I think there are a couple of somewhat novel elements to it, but briefly I'll mention the strategy here.

Because I have so much terrain, I divide it up into long-term and short term storage. Short term storage is the stuff I actively work with.

First the long term stuff because it is a fun one to talk about. Long term storage is there to build stuff for tournaments or epic projects. The main goal for it is to be able to be efficiently packed (I only have so much space) and also to be quickly pulled by "sets." In other words, if I want 2 SotM and 2 TJ for a particular map, I can grab that quantity of terrain. (Trust me, that's handy. See D_S's regret above).

To do this, I use the idea of "storage bricks" pioneered by bunjee. If unfamiliar with the idea, have a look at this download where @AliasQTip documents a few different types. My storage bricks are different than others I've seen on the site in that mine always fit inside of the footprint of a two 24-hexers connected together to make a 48-hex rectangle--no protrusions. The reason why will become apparent in a bit. Like the original bricks, mine are also rubber banded together, and I can pull all of the tiled terrain for discrete set as a single unit very quickly. Those storage bricks work well for tiled terrain, but things like trees and glaciers go into a ziplock bag, one set per bag, again so it can be pulled as a discrete unit.

These bricks and bags go inside of Banker's Boxes (BBs):



I LOVE THEM for Heroscape storage! They are cheap, ubiquitous, durable, stackable, and importantly for our purposes, sized PERFECTLY to fit the 48-hexer-based bricks mentioned above. The length and height of a BB is PERFECT to store the bricks if you stand the up on their long edge. In this way, a single banker's box could be used to store 4 RoTV or 6 SoTM or I-dont-remember-how-many-BFTU with very little wasted space. Or you can mix-and-match sets in one box. If I pull 2 RoTV out of that of 4 RoTV box, there is now space to slot in 3 SoTM or perhaps 2 SoTM and a BftU or maybe you prefer 1 SoTM and 2 castle sets. It's very flexible and fills the boxes very fully. If this doesn't make sense, let me know and I'll take pictures.

The stuff in bags also goes in BBs. Nothing special about that, just a bunch of bags thrown in the box. Being bagged makes it very easy to pull exactly what I need (e.g., 2 bags of glaciers, 1 bag of jungle).

Remember how I said above I'm being brief? Well, it looks like I lied, but there are many details to this solution I will leave off to at least be be brief-er.

Short term terrain storage also goes in BBs, with a much more rough sort used. This stuff gets constantly reworked, so it doesn't make sense to be bundling and unbundling it into formal storage bricks.

The BBs are labelled on their end and placed on shelving. Voila--pretty much instant access to any terrain in my insanely large collection.

How about figures? They go in cardboard too, but not BBs. They go in BCW Card Houses:



Dice and other small bits also go in them. Here's an old picture of most of my official figures in storage:



Everything is strictly alphabetically (i.e., no sorting by attributes like size or general) and the name on the outside of the drawer is the first unit alphabetically that is stored in that drawer. Here's what it looks like if you open up one of the drawers (which are much deeper than they look in this picture--they go a lot further back (15-inches, IIRC)):



As you can see, big units fit fine in the drawers. Some of them do need wings removed before storage though (e.g., Zelrig, but not Sujoah as you can see in the picture).

The great thing about these card houses is that they mix very nicely with BBs. I don't have a good image of the whole collection handy, but here is an image from when I was cleaning out the basement and needed to store things (not on shelving) in the garage for a weekend:



The collection was a bit messier back then and also most of the box labels are facing the wall away from us, but you get the idea. (Things are much tidier now, but I'm not at home and as I said, I don't have a better picture handy.) Anyway, as you can see, the sizes of the two types of storage units work together very nicely. They also mix nicely with retail HS boxes. Heck, NIB figures and small terrain expansions and such even store nice and efficiently in the BBs.

In short, if you've got a lot of terrain, Bankers boxes are an awesome option for storage. If you're the type that needs to store things in plastic (maybe you need to control humidity or have critter issues), BBs are also available in that, but cost about three times as much as the cardboard (about $1.50 per box for cardboard and $4.50 for plastic--Walmart prices).

Yeah so this is straight up Awesome! you have more heroscape stuff than most people I know have Total board games. thanks for the write up and advice!