It's a can of worms so I'm asking how others do this...

I have my setup of the game down to 15 min. and the breakdown down to about 45 min.

Any suggestions on how I could make it shorter on either end? I'm using Ziploc® bags to keep the assorted monsters, chits, tokens, dice, etc. all separate, and have labeled every bag with perma marker on top of masking tape. The worst part for me now I think is having to divide everything into all the separate boxes, and finding things in the boxes I have them in.

Any Ideas floating around as to how to make (or where to find) a chest for it all? Any other tips and tricks would be cool also... I'm dealing with 40 lbs. of Board Game now lol!

Well my first thought is... why bother labelling the bags? It's obvious what's in them, and not having to find "that specific bag" will surely save tons of time.

Here's my setup:

1. Base game box has a plastic card box for cards / dice, doors, town marker, other odds and ends. Also contains plastic plano 24 compartments boxes, one for players, one for OL. Finally, a bag containing all one space monsters except for Razorwings is in this box.

2. ToI box just contains documentation for everything, player mats, etc.

3. WoD box contains large figures + Razorwings

4. AoD box contains all map tiles except RtL.

5. RtL box just contains RtL stuff.

My cards are divided in a couple of ways- some 'decks' have rubberbands around them. Most are just divided by post-its. I can pack the game up pretty quickly, probably 10 minutes. Setup takes longer since I have to build the map, set up the player mats, etc. Probably 20 minutes.

For my set up I have all the tokens in a couple of those modular plastic tackle boxes (Flambeau is the brand name most of mine are from). I pick them up at Canadian Tire, but if you don't happen to live in the Great White North I'm sure there are similar hardware/sporting goods stores nearby that would stock the same things. That way we can just leave the tackle boxes open and pick out tokens as needed (the ones I have also have detachable lids, which can occasionally be handy.) I have the heart and fatigue tokens, as well as all the hero familiars and order tokens in one of the mini boxes, so I just throw that one at the heroes and keep mine near me. This drastically reduces set up/tear down time for tokens since we just put the whole tackle box in one corner of the table.

The board tiles I keep separated by size and type and just use elastic bands to keep them together. When we set up the map we pull them all apart and leave the unused parts in the game box on the floor. The only bits I have in baggies are the dead ends.

Cards I'd recently put into homemade tuckboxes, although I'm considering taking them out now since I didn't leave room for ToI cards, and future exapnsions will just muss everything up anyway. Now I'm looking at using a couple of those white boxes typically used by CCG enthusiasts. Keeps everything in one place and leaves room for expansion.

Monsters are all kept in one of the expansion boxes, loose. It takes time to sort them out but it doesn't take that long. Eventually I plan to paint them all (key word: eventually =P) after which they'll be kept in some sort of miniature tray to avoid chipping, which will also conveniently sort them out for me.

Set up usually doesn't take too long once the map is built, so I'm not too worried about saving time there. For tear down I usually just throw everything in the box and sort it out at home later. This is price I must pay for playing such a complex (but awesome!) game.

Two things:

1. I agree a fish/tackle box is a great idea. I have one of these for all the small stuff and the board pieces. The board pieces I sort by type and have invidual bags for these (no labels, it is in fact obvious what is what). This all goes in the main area. The tackle box has 3 smaller boxes which can be separated into sections with little plastic dividers and which slide into the lower part of the box. I have one box for small terrain pieces (rubble, pits, etc.), one for heroes and hero stuff (potions, effect tokens--these are generally on heroes and not monsters), and a third for small monsters (excluding razorwings, medusas and lava beetles--unwieldy) and threat tokens, rune keys, chests, glyphs.

I keep the large monsters and rulebooks in a backpack, and I have a card box which has all the cards on one side, and has the medium monsters (the 3 listed above, 2x1 monsters, and spiders) in it along with doors and templates. It seems to work pretty well.

2. Keep in mind you are playing this game with other people, so feel free to recruit them when setting up/tearing down. OL gets his stuff out, heroes get theirs out. Everybody helps put it away. It took some time getting it organized, but I would say it's about 5 to setup and 15 to put it away...hope this helps!

Thanks for all the ideas!

I'm starting to think a larger tool box might help me, the tackle box idea was the clue lol (something with a handle would be so very nice). As for the cards, seeing how they are starting to rival my lil' sisters old Poki-Mon' collection, I'm going the same route as when I helped her sort and will be getting a 1500 count card box (ok maybe a 400 count box or two to start lol).

But I'm thinking the missing two expansions I don't have makes me wonder just how much room I will need in the {near} future? Should I expect about the same amount of "stuff" in them as I found in AoD and RtL?

...or maybe I better not go there yet lol

I'm a little extreme in my organisation.

First up, I have four of these: http://www.stanleytools.com/default.asp?CATEGORY=ZAG+ORGANIZERS&TYPE=PRODUCT&PARTNUMBER=014725R&SDesc=Stanley%26%23174%3B+Professional+Organizer

The varous compartments are interchangeable. These hold the card decks, tokens, counters, overlays, et al.

For my miniatures, I have two of these: http://www.stanleytools.com/default.asp?CATEGORY=ZAG+ORGANIZERS&TYPE=PRODUCT&PARTNUMBER=014026R&SDesc=Stanley%26%230153%3B+SortMaster+Organizer

My board sections are in ziplocks and sit in an aluminium flight case, along woith a box of Hero Cards, Paul Grogan's RtL Leader Cards, town, Bolt, Breath & Stomache templates, four "Monkeh!" beanies, RtL files, drawstring bags full of dice (one set per bag plus some for the RtL stuff, and the town deck folder (see below).

My rules, RtL map board and other folders sit in a flight bacg, organisation explained below. This along with the seven cases all fit just perfectly in a big blue Ikea bag.

My Monster cards are in card ppages designed for CCGs. I simply figure out which set(s) I need, and put the appropreate three sheets out (example, in RtL, I need copper/copper/silver, so I putt outthe right three and flip the one copper sheet to silver).These sit in a leather portfolio, along with various summary sheets, players aids, and mini-binders with the FAQ, Hero Design Rules, web-scenarios, etc.

My Treachery and RtL upgrade cards sit in 9pocketpage ultra Pro Portfolios for easy reference.

Now I have my first batch of RtL Lieutenants, I have little space left for new monsters, and only a few spaces for more expansions in m other boxes.

Hi,

Zearthling said:

We need about 20 seconds for set-up and take-down. Here's how (it's an animated GIF, so I hope it will display correctly):

-Kylearan

I LoL'ed so hard...where can I get myself one of those ?! )

Nice! You can also spend several hundreds of dollars for one of those gaming tables where the whole surface drops down into the table, with another surface then becoming the table top. I don't have a link, but they are very cool.

I feel your pain, man. One of the biggest problems my group faces with descent is the amount of set-up/break-down time. Given that we only get a few hours to play each week, wasting 1 hour on set-up and break down usually will deter us from playing at all. Then there is also my personal extreme aversion to "Fiddly-bits," which has become quite a running joke in my group.

We tend to only play RTL, and we have all our bits and pieces separated much like others have posted so far, namely into plastic plano divided boxes. Even so, set-up and break-down still can take an insane amount of time. The 2 main areas of set-up that seem to take the longest is

1.getting out the cards and bits needed for the heroes and OL. Even with them all separated in the boxes it still takes seomt time to get them all out and set-up

and

2. setting up the maps.

I think I have come up with something that will cut all of this down to nothing. I will be making this over the next 2 weeks so I will post finished pictures then, but basically we have decided that we will be scanning in the dungeons at play size, printing them double sided, possibly having them laminated, and then creating a box to hold them in with a glass top frame for playing on the one in use.

I will also be making 3 more wooden boxes. One for the Heroes, one for the OL and one for the overland map. The heroes and OL boxes will have velvet lined dividers inside much like a poker case or jewelry box with all the cards and token stored and separted in them in an "at ready" position. A lid will be on top that slids into slots near the top and covers everything so that the boxes can be turned all around and shaken with nothing falling out.

The Overland box will just be a 1'x2' box that has the Overland map as the top so you can play on that. Under that will be either one or 2 small drawers that will contain all the various effect tokens that can be slid out from either side of the box and will have a locking mechanism for keeping the drawer in placed during travel.

The coolest thing is that all 3 boxes shall have a rack and rail system so when its time to break-down and leave, the hero and OL boxes are closed by sliding on the lid (which by the way will have the rules/quick FAQ printed on the inside), and then both are racked on top of the Overland box which will make them all one big unit with a handle for travel.

the Minis and monsters shall still be stored in the plano boxes and dungeon puzzle pieces will either be stored separately, as we wont be using them, or in the dungeon box with the maps.

The idea is sound, the plan is in place and the tools and materials are ready. All thats left is the execution. Once I get over this cold, I will be getting started.

I've made a box in foam board with room for each sort of map piece. This makes setting up the dungeons way faster as well as packing the box. It fits rather snugly into the main game box, and all other stuff can be packed around it. I have no picture though, sorry.