HeroScape Storage System

[RobertDD]

Jo Ann has the Super Satchel Box from Art Bin 9101AB on sale for $8.99:
http://www.joann.com/joann/catalog/p...DID=xprd408781

Also, there are two free shipping codes:
ebd77 - free shipping over $25 - expires today
ebatesap105 - free shipping over $50 - expires 4/15/10


I have been looking far and wide for a storage system for my figures that allows for some organization, can handle a vast volume of figures at a half way reasonable price, fits every HeroScape figure and is readily expandable. The ArtBin Super Satchel system seems to fit that description. One Super Satchel box 9101AB fits: 7 packs of Snipers and Vipers, 4 packs of wave 1 Romans, 4 packs of wave 1 Orcs, Wave 1 Heroes, and 2 (I think 3 or 4 will fit too)) RTTFF Dumutef Guards. Every unit is in it's own area, except for the heroes and two units of snipers that I stuck together in a larger compartment. There are larger and deeper boxes for this system that will fit the dragons and even the Hive.

This is not a cheap solution, but it is pretty nice.

Oh, if you have a Jo-Ann nearby, they also have these boxes in store. My store was more expensive than online, but they do have a 40% off coupon this week:
http://www.joann-mail.com/J1048JKW/c...?sid=fc2805442
Which made the box $10 and change. Close enough to the online price to pick one up and try before you buy.


BTW: here is the inspiration for this purchase: http://www.heroscapers.com/community...?t=5009&page=2 Check out the post (#16) by TheOnlyMeGuMeGu

[xraine69]

I use Plano boxes from Walmart. They are about $4 a piece. They can also be purchased in tackle bags for transport.

[RobertDD]

Those tackle boxes are nice, but I found I ran out of space in them way too soon and would have needed way too many. The nice thing about the boxes that I linked to is that the smallest partition you can make will actually fit a HeroScape base. This means that a small 3 figure squad (roman archers) fit in there. Also, the boxes are rather large and fit a lot. But I'll readily admit they are not for everyone.

I think one of my boxes fits everything in two to three of those plano boxes, maybe even a little more than that (it is hard to guestimate)

I wonder when someone will come with a dedicated afordable figure storage system. I mean, we have all these card storage boxes now, so why not figure boxes?

[xraine69]

Lol, yeah I have 22 cases(1 of almost all uniques and at least three of every common from RotV till Wave 9, still shouldn't need anymore till D2.) I chose these for mobility. In our old group I usually brought mine along since I was one of the ones with most of the collection and multiples. To each his own.

By the way, great work on the books. Downloaded them last night. Planning to print them and make me a unit binder. Any chance you could do the Unit Strategy Guides?

[delphic]

I've recently spent hours thinking about storage for both at home and on the road.

For home I like the glass storage shelves from Ikea to keep my figures dust free and on display. Two will hold one of every figure.

http://www.ikea.com/ca/en/catalog/products/10011055

Then a HUGE coffee table for games. I want two.

http://www.ikea.com/ca/en/catalog/products/10065958

I currently use a book shelf for storing the terrain but it is not big enough and you have to dig through stacks of terrain to fit it all. I have alot of terrain.

So I'm looking at these and thinking it might be a solution to keeping it all sorted and easy to access.

http://www.ikea.com/ca/en/catalog/products/00071356

possibly combined with ...

http://www.ikea.com/ca/en/catalog/products/90115756

So thats my dream storage system but as you can see it pretty well ends up dedicating a full room to HEROSCAPE. Which, since I have a game room suits me, fine but not everyone has the space.

The instructions I separated the pages from each other and put them in a 4" binder each with it's own plastic page keeper.

For card I picked up some CD plastic sleeve binder inserts from staples. Each holds 8 CDs or 8 Cards with duplicates. All in easy to find organization. I have also been printing off some of the cool literature from the site to add to my General Game information Like strategies for each figure, Bios, graphics, my Hex Master Master Copies I got from FAT DRAGON GAMES. (totally excellent product if you have the time to build them). Collection check lists, Tower of Loden Dice tower Master Copies, The cool new Dice Bowl Master Copies from the download section ... need I continue.

For travel I like the aluminum tool boxes from Walmart.

http://www.walmartcanada.ca/details?...romSearch=true

I want to buy some insulating foam sheets, cut to fit the box in 6 layers, cut out my custom holes for figures or terrain and then glue felt to the foam. Problem is that I'm always way too busy to ever actually finish the project. :P Also your still limited in how much you can take. For travel Bricking is the best option for terrain. Check out the BIN in the download section.

Now if only Someone would would figure out a better way to store Zombies from Twilight Games. The game is great but man all those expansion boxes ... Bags O Zombies, dogs, clowns, and radioactive Mutant zombies. I haven't even bought HUMANS or Martians yet.

Cheers

Delphic

[Worseley]

Originally Posted by xraine69

I use Plano boxes from Walmart. They are about $4 a piece. They can also be purchased in tackle bags for transport.

I use them too but I use the ones that are Twice as tall/deep. I can store around 100 squad figures per case pretty easy and you only need half the number of cases (still same space though)

Besides those i use $10 medium tubs with Hex's on the bottom. Sitting two of these side-by-side equals the width of the Plano box's, giving you a very NEAT/clean storage option.

For moving them they fit extremely well in a average Suitcase with wheels.

[RobertDD]

Yeah, that was one of my main concerns, I really wanted a solution that would fit it all. So many solutions do not provide for the larger guys....

As to the Ikea solution: I currently have a man-height, 4-feet wide, 7 glass shelf cherry display case that houses my HS figures (I got lucky on Craig's List) and there is two problems with it:
1. I am running/have run out of space
2. The figures get dusty, even inside the case.


BTW: thanks for the nice words on the books. What are the strategy guides?

[TnT2]

Heroscape. The only game where the storage system cost can equal the cost of the game.

I currently use large plastic drawers for the figures. Small plastic shoeboxes for the 1-2-3 hex tiles (sorted by colour). And file boxes for the rest. It does not travel well.

I have an Ikea shelf with glass shelves for the figures, but there was too much wasted space (though I could buy more shelves - but then the depth becomes an issue - it would be too hard to reach the figures at the back).

Check out Bixby's old wooden libary card files that he uses for figures. (I can't seem to find the pic - I was sure it was on BGG). Needless to say, it is very cool.

[chief]

I currently use 6 of these for terrain and 2 of these for figures (only 1 is full, the other is abut 1/4th) I like them, and since im still a high schooler it works well with the parents. My biggest problems is finding places for all of my custom terrain. Its on random areas getting damaged right now because their is no other area. My dream system which will be in my future house is this. I will construct 6 maps from the halls of valhalla. These will then be stored in the drawers I have with the build instructions. Next to these drawers I will have one of these The shelves will hold extra trees, 7 hexers, 24 hexers, large custom terrain, and my unit boxes. Then I will place extra liquid, single, double, and triple hexes into the bins. The other bins will sport my small rock customs and custom units. I will also then have room to fit in some other board games in their boxes.

[RobertDD]

That Stanley Box you link to is really great. I have one for my Descent figures, and there's plenty of room for a few more expansions. I was very close to going that route for HeroScape.

My main reason not to go that way is that I have many figures that I own so much of that I would need two openings to hold them all, and I worried about needing too many of them to store it all. The second reason is that the box does not fit the dragons.

Honestly though, it was a toss-up and I totally could have gone that way and be happy with it. As portability goes, the Stanley XL is pretty good too (although four of them would prob be just as importable as the boxes I picked, lol)

[chief]

Yea I see what your saying. I had the same concerns, but I dont have a very large collection of multiples. I have 1 copy of each and about 2 or 3 copies of all A+ competitive units.

[Ace Histoli]

Thanks for posting the Jo-Ann sale!
I'm going back and forth between the Plano boxes and the Super Satchel 9101s...

I assume the Planos most people use are the 3700 standard ones, right? They're supposedly 14x9x2, while the 9101's are 15x14x2. If you just look at area:
The Plano is 126 sq inches, and @ $5/box (best I could find at present), it's about 4 cents per square inch.
The 9101s are 210 sq inches, and @ the sale price of $9/box, it's about 4.3 cents per square inch.

Already in this thread we have happy users of each product, so maybe I can't go wrong. It looks like both lines have deep boxes for dragons, hives, etc. So I'm left wondering about intangibles.

Is there more to it than just area -- RobertDD, you mentioned getting 3 or more times as much into the 9101's, so is there some additional advantage that isn't reflected by dimensions alone? (theoretically, 210 vs 126 means one shouldn't even be able to get double the figures into the 9101s compared to the 3700s)

Other intangibles: The 3700s have been around for a long time and will likely be around forever, so I can buy more of them in the future and have them match with the ones I buy now. On the other hand, the 9101's have the option of the sweet Super Satchel cube for filing them.

Sigh. I'm analysis paralysis-ing here. Anybody with additional thoughts or advice?
Thanks!