How do you transport your army from your house to your game place of choice? I'm looking for a good way to transport my Lizards after I get them all together, that isn't going to just be leaving them loose in 3-4 boxes. So how do you find is the best way to transport these around?
It's a pain. I wrap each figure individually in tissue paper and put them in a cardboard box with more tissue paper in it. Even then, I sometimes end up with bent spears and such.
I use one or two of these puppies: Pad that with some egg foam and a bit more flat foam on top to stop models moving around, and I haven't had a transportation break in months. The most important thing transporting models is to make sure they can't move around at all, if they can roll or slide into each other then they willbreak from the collisions. Squash them between the foam, and as long as spears are flat rather than pointing up into the foam, then they won't break or move around. I have also seen some very cool metal (magnetic) cases that are worth considering if you are willing to put in the effort. You put (rare earth) magnets on the base of your models and stick them to the case so they can't slide around. You can also magnetise your movement trays so you don't even need to rank them up when you get to where you are going. A similar in principle but rather novel idea, and not very practical for an army more a single model, is to use a small wooden box. Put a screw into it from the outside, and have a nut secured to the bottom of the base. Then screw the model in to the wall of the box and shut it. That is how people at my local GW were sending models to Golden Daemon, to test the box they stuck a model in it then were kicking it around the store and nothing broke. And yeah the GW ones are designed for the job, so they can be good, but they're very expensive. Not a lot of people have that much money to burn on just a case.
http://www.battlefoam.com/ those guys have gotten a lot of good press lately I just use cheapo gun cases from walmart atm... the tourny last weekend here was funny, lots of guys walking into a retirement home carrying gun cases...
You can also go to an office supply store and et shipping boxes cheaply. They come in many sizes and and just latching boxes with foam inside.
well i got a sabol army transport with extra foan trays, 1 big tool box with foam layers for my brets, a small tool case for smaller stuff and well lose boxes. that battle foam is a great site, if they do orders outside the us, then i will be getting me some for my steggies
A friend of mine took a large Rubbermaid container, laid down a roll out sheet magnet, then added rare-earth magnets to all of his movement trays so the whole lot was magnetized. I plan to do something similar as it keeps the models stationary and they sit on their bases and do not rub against anything else.
I bought the small carry case from GW. It cost me AU$80 and came with 3 levels of foam "shelves" that already have infantry sized slots cut into them. You can cut the foam to make larger spaces for stegs and such. I found that buying my own foam blocks at my local rubber store is better because I can shape the slots to fit specific models into it. I can fit my tau army (devilfish, 24 fire warriors, 6 stealth suits, 4 crisis suits, 6 path finders 12 kroot and a truck load of drones) plus about 50 saurs/skink sized models into it. So its pretty big...
Where do you buy these? I've looked for them before, but could never find them! Whoa, those are epic! Now I'm definitely considering buying the PACK 432. And they even make army-specific foam insterts? Truly wonderful. Naturally, I have one of the Citadel carrying cases, as it came with the Mega Paint set. But that's where my paints are atm.
Use a tackle box. I can fit 36 fire warriors, 50+ kroot, 2 devilfish, 2 Hammerheads, 3 broadsides, 5 XV8's , 3 xv22s and a jillion drones into a tackle box.
For lizardmen I took a flat suitcase type holder drom GW and no foam, all my trays are magnetized so I just lay em flat on the bottom, when I game I just grab a lizard tray, turn it upside down, and throw it onto the table somewhat violently and laugh that nothing bad happens. I can deploy an army right out of the box without needing any sort of prep time. (though skinks are not magnetized, it rarely matters since they skirmish)
In my case, I got them from work during uni holidays. We ship impedance analysers in them, and if any get sent back for repairs the company gives them a new case. They were just throwing the perfectly good old ones in the bin! I have half a dozen now. I could try to find out where they bought them from if you like, I think they were around $65-70 AUD though so might be a bit pricey. Otherwise, a quick google search came up with this: http://www.aluminiumcases.com/ No idea how much they would cost, but for a completely custom case it might be worth it.
so what is a cheap way to make a magnetized movement trays... i understand the whole use rare-earth magnets on the models but not sure what to use as a tray
Do you have any flexible fridge magnets? That is the kind of magnet you are looking for, thin sheets. They can usually be found in craft stores, and can be cut up with relative ease using a decent pair of scissors. Something like this is what you are looking for. Just glue that to your movement trays. Alternatively, you could just use thin sheets of steel bought from a hardware store. Bit harder to cut out, and can have sharp edges, but will stick to magnets just as easily and you won't have to worry about aligning the poles. Then if you want it to stick to your metal case, just drill a few holes at the corners and stick a few rare earth magnets in. Or maybe even the magnets under the models will be strong enough to grab through the steel. You'd have to try and find out.
I recommend tin instead of steel. Tin is softer and easier to work with. It sill retains the sharp edge however and I have managed to stab myself more than once with small strips of the stuff so do be careful. I prefer it to steel since tin can be cut with scissors if necessary. K&S manufactures thin sheets in 4" x 10" and 6" x 12" I believe. Most rare earth magnets that you would use on the bottom of a mini lack a large magnetic field. The pull is tremendous for the size, but the field is small, which is thankfully why the models stick to the movement tray and not to each other. Unless your tray is very thin you'll likely have to add magnets to the movement trays to attached them to a metal carrying case.