Hello all,
So, the lucky bastards who were part of the Kickstarter Season One for Zombicde got app. 200 miniatures out of the deal. Now, this is actually something of a mixed blessing - 200 miniatures, the majority of which are zombies, is a lot of minis to paint. And then, once you've painted the buggers, it dawns on you that you need to store that bazillion of zombies and the hefty amount of survivors. And with the minis from Season two arriving shortly the problem will only be doubled.
Now, not to cry about having a massive amount of painted minis, but where and how do you store so many minis? And in a manner wherein you can quickly get them out and not spend the entire evening wrapping them in papertowel or figuring out which one goes where in your expensive styrofoam carrying case?
Well, I believe I've found the answer to this question. Allow me to praise a product made by a British company called Sally 4th.
Not a bad name either :-).
This company produces a fair few things, but the thing that caught my eye was their line of
Figure Storage Chests. This is a line of laser cut wooden 'chests' that come in a variety of sizes and heights. And the best thing is that they also produce inserts, tailored to just about every basing system out there.
So I went and did the only reasonable thing - I bought a few samples just to test them out and this is the result:
With room for 48 models in their 25mm round insert cutouts, all the survivors and zombivores will fit within one chest, and have room to practice their Zombie-slaying-tricks as well.
I've bought the 75mm heigh version and have opted for the magnetic inlay as well. this works perfect for the plastic minis, but for metal minis I would go easy on the travelling. Meaning they will stay in place while travelling, but if someone turns them upside down, they will fall down half the time.
A few examples of the zombie horde tucked away in their chests:
A ton of Walkers, ready to party.
And, in another chest, a hefty group of fatties and some runners for support.
As you can see, three chests will fit more than the basic set (and even the Abomination pack), and as it only takes a second to stow away a given mini (or pull out a handfull of Runners to ruin everyones day) I do believe this is the currently best answer to how one can stow the Zombicide minis.
And four chests will only take up a small amount of shell space as they are fully stackable:
Now I did a little bit of modification before I assembled the chests - just to make the sets seem more urbannish:
A quick grey spray, and the inserts share the 'dark asphalt' look I've used on my Zombicide bases. Makes the entire thing seem more fitting. And I plan to go back and both add a bit of blood splatter and some clutter once I get more time.
More examples of minis in the Sally 4th storage chests:
Now there are a few caveats with this system.
1: The entire thing comes without any instructions and looks quite fragile when you get the set. The mess below are six chests and two lids:
Looks a bit daunting. But once you get started the things build themselves and it was a bit like building wooden planes as a child.
2. the smell. Now becuase these are cut by a laser they smell. They smell burnt and they will do so for some time. Mine have been in action for a few weeks and I'll still notice the smell once in a while. But in the beginning the smell is quite noticeable, and the room you store them in will smell like a 'cub scout'-hangout. Very smokey - not like a cigarette, but like burnt wood. Whether this is a significant problem is something you must decide for yourself, but for me it was like reliving my childhood, so I came to enjoy the smell, even though it surprised me.
3. the price. While very fairly priced (I believe each chest, with magnets and inserts) set me back ca. 8£ is by any standard not a lot, it is money not used on miniatures and, again, is a point worth considering. I pondered long and hard (well for a day or so) and finally decided that the convenience they offered was worth it, and the quality of the product is great - well designed and flawless executed.
Now, I really like the products from Sally 4th (including their cheap round bases with magnets, excellent priced) and thus I happily recommend them for solving the problem of storing any minis. I'll be buying a few more chests and inserts for use with my Warmaster 10mm miniatures - four chests should hold vast armies and wills tandardize my storage system (and free up a lot of the wife's kitchen containers...).
Anyways, thanks for reading - if you found the post interesting then any comments or tips (commercial clicks :-)) are greatly appreciated!
Until the next time; stay safe and prepare to slaughter Zombies!
All the best,
Kasper
