Hello Happy X-Wing players!

I am in need of YOUR help to find a solution to a storage conundrum I am having. First, let me provide a little context:

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Why is this important?

For the past 6 years I've been playing this game, I've always prided myself on being very organised with my collection, constantly updating and revising the way I store and transport my stuff to game nights.

I am not someone who can build a list at home, take it to game night and play it. My mood very much influences what I play and 9 times out of 10 when I've prebuilt a list I will be sitting in the store thinking "but I don't feel like playing that list...I feel like messing with this ship a little..."

To that end, I always try to bring a full faction with me to game nights so if I want to switch up my list I can do so. In the old first edition days I would literally bring everything in my Battlefoam 720 bag and three four folders (one for each faction and an upgrade folder.

So what is the storage solution?

I will explain it in the context of game nights.

I bring the following with me:

Battlefoam 432 bag
The Battlefoam 423 bag is placed on a small wheeling trolly that allows me to pull the bag to my workplace, and from there to my FLGS, I don't have a car and rely mostly on public transport so I can't just throw it in a car.

The bag itself can hold up to 12 inches worth of foam trays and has three pockets. One large pocket where I put my template tray. The smaller pockets are used bags that contain obstacles, payload tokens, dice, and two damage decks (a spare just in case).

There is always my auxiliary tray. This tray never ever leaves the bag as it contains generic items always needed such as plastic bases (all three sizes), stems, plastic dial covers, and my token box.

I then have different trays per faction, generally speaking every faction has two to three trays, each of which is able to accommodate models of each ship type, enough to field 200 worth of most ships, or at least 2 depending on what is most space efficient for me. Some ships are designed to be stacked. If anyone is curious you can actually view the layout via the links and even use them if you want. There aren't any for the 'new factions' due to them always expanding so I use generic square foam slots.

1. A tray for small base ships - Rebel - Empire - Scum
2. A tray for medium and large base ships - Rebel - Empire - Scum
3. A tray for large base ships - Scum

The night before, I will decide what faction I will bring with me and switch out the necessary trays. I am usually carrying one, sometimes two, factions.

That's the main bulk of X-Wing stuff. Now for the rest.

The Folder Bag

I have a generic reusable woven bag that I put on top of the Battlefoam bag. This is only used to carry the folders I use for the game.

Here's a rundown of the folders I have.

1. Generic Upgrade Card Folder - This contains all generic upgrades in the game that can be used in the standard game. I bring this to every game night no matter what faction I bring.
2. Huge Ship Folder - Containing anything needed to field huge ships for any faction. Ship cards, bases, dials, even the tool is stored in here. It also contains any huge ship upgrades. If I want to run a huge ship, I bring this, it's rarely used and is more specialised.
3. Faction Folder - In these folders you'll find all faction specific upgrades tied to that faction, quick-build cards, ship cards, base chits, and dial backs.
   1. Rebel Alliance
   2. Galactic Empire
   3. Scum & Villainy
   4. Resistance and First Order
   5. Republic and Separatist

Each folder is a Macpac A4 folder that contains nothing but a ring binder system for modular page layouts, and (most importantly) can be sealed by a zip that goes around the folder. The actual pages themselves are ultra pro 9 page pockets. These are used for upgrades, quick-build cards and ship cards and are grouped together at the start of the folder.

Following that section you then have the large and medium base chits that are stored in A4 bank note or photograph pages, here's a link to where I buy them so you can see what they look like. The fit is loose for the chits, but it at least gives them a place within the folder. The final part of the folder has all the small ship base chits and ship dials grouped together as they both fit in the 20 pocket page. I only have the dial backs because I actually assemble the dials for the ships I will be using. In first edition I used to carry around big bulging dice bags full of dials...they take up a surprising amount of space. By using the dial covers and just the dial backs, I save a lot of space and weight overall.

The zip on the folio is important as the base chits can sometimes fall out while the folder is open since there's nothing stopping the chits from falling out, so it was imperative that to avoid anything going unintentionally astray during transport that the folder could be sealed.

The Theory

I can bring whatever faction I want to a game night, build a list there and then with all that faction available for me to use, using whatever upgrades I desire or need.

Grab the cards, take out the chits, assemble the dials and the ships and I am good to go.

This solution has worked well for 4 years, but a new issue has arisen which I will get into below.

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My Rebel Alliance, Galactic Empire, and Scum & Villainy folders are starting to bulge from all the content inside them. While these factions are considered mostly complete, they might still see some releases going forward and I worry about the bulging folder damaging the cards and pieces inside by warping them.

So I am trying to find out a way to solve this issue.

Split the faction between two zip folders
Pro: Doubles the space for each faction meaning bulging would no longer be an issue.
Pro: For tournaments if I know I won't need a particular folder I can leave that at home and save weight
Con: How to organise? What ships go in what folder? What about faction specific upgrades?
Con: It means lugging a second folder to game night...and my upgrade folder is also starting to look like it might need to be split...that means potentially 4 folders just to play one faction.

Move base chits and dial backs to a different storage method
Pro: The base chits and dial backs, on account of being thick punchboard card is what takes up a majority of the space in the folder so it would leave ample room for ship cards without bulging.
Con: Where? Their own separate folder? That would mean I'd always have to bring both folders with me no matter what. Storing them in the battlefoam bag is an option but means redesigning the foam trays which can be very expensive and moves the issue of space to the model bag.

Get a non-zip A4 folder to store everything
Pro: There are very thick binders out there that would easily be able to hold all the pages for one faction necessary.
Con: One wrong move could sent base chits and dials flying everywhere if the folder is dropped, or they could fall out since I am relying on friction to keep them in their sleeves.
Pro or Con: It leaves me with a zip folder unused, but then the new factions folders (Resistance & First Order; Republic & Separatist) will eventually have to be split when their factions expand so they can be re-purposed.

My ideal solution for the problem would simply be an A4 folder that is much wider, allowing for more pages but can still be sealed up to stop the cardboard bases from falling out. So this is where I pass it over to the community.

If you have any recommendations, suggestions, or comments, please post.

I have been using 3 ring binders, but am switching to card boxes with dividers. They are easier to carry with no worries of spilling. I have so many cards that I couldn't fit them in binder slots and was storing extras in boxes anyway.

@Ebak I feel your conflict. My 1e organization of cards was a similar binder setup, but I had my base squares in the storage trays with their ships and the dials in little cases made from the cardboard tubes from paper towel rolls (they were just the right size!)

My recommendation is to switch from binders to boxes! There is less empty space between cards in a well packed box (so it feels more space efficient) so for 2e I have switched to just using a couple big card boxes with dividers marking where each ship chassis and upgrade type is for cards plus small and medium bases. Then I use a skinny cardboard box to fill the space at the end and cut it a little shorter whenever I get new cards and bases.

Unfortunately for my dial storage, the old cardboard tubes are too small (and were falling apart anyways) so my dials have ended up just getting tossed into the other half of the card box along with the small bases which are too small to slot nicely with the cards and bigger bases (making it a pain to find dials and bases when it's time to change lists). I've made brief searches for "coin boxes" online and it looks like I could get a few of those to hold the dials and a 2x2 coin box should be the right size for 2e Maneuver dials with paper dividers to sort each chassis type and the small base squares could also fit in with the dials.

card box:

2x2 coin box:

I use these-

https://www.amazon.com/4-Inch-D-Ring-Zipper-Binder-D-186-RED/dp/B001GIP20S

I have my cards / bases / dials organized same way you do, & have 2 of these 4" binders that hold 3 factions each, and one of them also has all the upgrade cards. Works great!! They also come with a carrying strap for easy transport.

On 2/3/2020 at 12:03 AM, nitrobenz said:

@Ebak I feel your conflict. My 1e organization of cards was a similar binder setup, but I had my base squares in the storage trays with their ships and the dials in little cases made from the cardboard tubes from paper towel rolls (they were just the right size!)

My recommendation is to switch from binders to boxes! There is less empty space between cards in a well packed box (so it feels more space efficient) so for 2e I have switched to just using a couple big card boxes with dividers marking where each ship chassis and upgrade type is for cards plus small and medium bases. Then I use a skinny cardboard box to fill the space at the end and cut it a little shorter whenever I get new cards and bases.

Unfortunately for my dial storage, the old cardboard tubes are too small (and were falling apart anyways) so my dials have ended up just getting tossed into the other half of the card box along with the small bases which are too small to slot nicely with the cards and bigger bases (making it a pain to find dials and bases when it's time to change lists). I've made brief searches for "coin boxes" online and it looks like I could get a few of those to hold the dials and a 2x2 coin box should be the right size for 2e Maneuver dials with paper dividers to sort each chassis type and the small base squares could also fit in with the dials.

I appreciate the comment! I have thought about this, I just feel it's a rather clunky way of transporting it and whenever I think about it I just..really don't like the idea, its far too removed from what I do right now which I am essentially trying to scale up.

1 hour ago, cubsfan4life said:

I use these-

https://www.amazon.com/4-Inch-D-Ring-Zipper-Binder-D-186-RED/dp/B001GIP20S

I have my cards / bases / dials organized same way you do, & have 2 of these 4" binders that hold 3 factions each, and one of them also has all the upgrade cards. Works great!! They also come with a carrying strap for easy transport.

That doesn't look like what I need...that is EXACTLY what I need!

They are perfect and look way much thicker than my current bags. They are a perfect upgrade! Thank you.

Nice tip @cubsfan4life