In response to a recent poll we conducted, here are some suggestions to help gameplay move a little bit faster.

One thing which I think you've not mentioned in the article; having an easy means of moving your stuff (ships, cards, tokens, templates, whatever) between tables at a tournament. I remember my first couple of tournaments, where I spent several minutes between rounds dashing between tables carrying things without any sense of organisation, which ate into setup time and caused unnecessary stress.

The solution can be as simple as a metal oven tray with a small lip. It's large enough to fit almost everything you'll need, and the lip prevents tokens and other items sliding off onto the floor. I've since moved onto an acrylic 'token tray' which connects to my template tray magnetically, because I'm a giant child who likes shiny things I can load all the tokens I need into it, and it doubles as a convenient inter-table transit solution.

Just FYI, but you can get a 5 Euro discount from Feldherr if you use the code "Shuttle19".

1 hour ago, heychadwick said:

Just FYI, but you can get a 5 Euro discount from Feldherr if you use the code "Shuttle19".

Jim is pushing Feldherr? Hummm, seems he may have a change of mind on foam huh? Cool.

..tea OK down there in Charlotte land?

The Feldherr mini is an amazing case for tournaments. Foam for ships, holds a few lists worth of ships+stuff, and lots of the places linked cut template and token trays to fit it. I had to sew on a shoulder strap to mine and its perfect. You don't have to go that far, any dice tray will do a lot for you at tournaments. Great article

I ended up making my own that combines a dice tray, template tray, and something like the old "flight deck" that holds my list in a super easy to see/hand off to opponent format. More efficiency between tables is more xwing to be played!

36 minutes ago, clanofwolves said:

Jim is pushing Feldherr? Hummm, seems he may have a change of mind on foam huh? Cool.

..tea OK down there in Charlotte land?

Ha! First, I don't drink iced tea as I'm not a native. Hate the stuff.

Yeah, I've had a change of heart. With the Huge stuff, my collection has just grown insane. I carry most of it with me each week as we could play just about anything. I started to use a huge rolling case that was bulky, loud, and didn't hold enough. With the Huge Conversion Kit, I started looking at alternatives. I saw that Feldherr is actually reasonably priced (compared to Battlefoam) and I went with them! It's made things immensely easier with 100% of my minis in one giant bag that I can carry over one shoulder. I've got a complete separate bag for all my dials, cards, templates, and tokens. Then, I have a third bag that I usually don't need that I have for HotAC or Flight Group Alpha with the "Star Flickers" box and various 3D printed stuff.

Awesome to see my LEGO template holder included as a photo. I've really enjoyed having it as the vertical storage method takes up very little table space, provides an easy way to move them between tables, and is already sorted to make it ready for play immediately. If anyone is interested, I uploaded some instructions to build that template holder (minus the greebling) here .

On 2/18/2020 at 5:45 AM, AceDogbert said:

One thing which I think you've not mentioned in the article; having an easy means of moving your stuff (ships, cards, tokens, templates, whatever) between tables at a tournament. I remember my first couple of tournaments, where I spent several minutes between rounds dashing between tables carrying things without any sense of organisation, which ate into setup time and caused unnecessary stress.

The solution can be as simple as a metal oven tray with a small lip. It's large enough to fit almost everything you'll need, and the lip prevents tokens and other items sliding off onto the floor. I've since moved onto an acrylic 'token tray' which connects to my template tray magnetically, because I'm a giant child who likes shiny things I can load all the tokens I need into it, and it doubles as a convenient inter-table transit solution.

I personally use a wood plaque thing I picked up from Michaels, as a tournament tray and it helps tremendously as a way to move everything quickly. I've thought about getting a larger one as I usually struggle to fit all of my ship cards in a nice format on that tray, but it's still worked very well for most of my events.

17 minutes ago, joeshmoe554 said:

I personally use a wood plaque thing I picked up from Michaels, as a tournament tray and it helps tremendously as a way to move everything quickly. I've thought about getting a larger one as I usually struggle to fit all of my ship cards in a nice format on that tray, but it's still worked very well for most of my events.

Cafeteria trays.

By design, they're cheap, durable, and washable. They're available locally from restaurant supply stores, or online, in lots of different colors and sizes.

I've accumulated a whole stack of various styles over the years. They're also great to hold various work-in-progress projects, like painting or assembling.

Use them at home when assembling or converting - the lipped edge helps to prevent losing parts. (Top tip: this also works great for Lego sets)

Carry a squad of minis outside to spray prime. Have one with a water cup and paper towels for painting them. Have another one with a different set of paints, for that other army you're also working on.

I have larger ones that would comfortably fit an entire 40k army, and smaller ones that hold an X-Wing squad and cards. I keep two or three in my gaming bag so I can set up multiple forces and hand them off to people. Have a spare and you can eat your lunch off it too. And it's dishwasher safe!

So... Yeah. Trays. I'm a big fan.

18 hours ago, Hatemonger said:

So... Yeah. Trays. I'm a big fan.

I have often used the free cardboard trays from Panera Bread to put tournament stuff in. It has a lid and you can tote it from table to table and then take stuff out.

There are are some nice tournament trays out that don't cost too much, as well.

I am so excited for this product regarding component storage. Super cool.

1 hour ago, Cloaker said:

I am so excited for this product regarding component storage. Super cool.

I have too many non-standard.

4 minutes ago, heychadwick said:

I have too many non-standard.

yeah, that's the beauty of what @wurms and his brother designed here. so much utility

On 2/19/2020 at 10:35 AM, joeshmoe554 said:

Awesome to see my LEGO template holder included as a photo. I've really enjoyed having it as the vertical storage method takes up very little table space, provides an easy way to move them between tables, and is already sorted to make it ready for play immediately. If anyone is interested, I uploaded some instructions to build that template holder (minus the greebling) here .

I personally use a wood plaque thing I picked up from Michaels, as a tournament tray and it helps tremendously as a way to move everything quickly. I've thought about getting a larger one as I usually struggle to fit all of my ship cards in a nice format on that tray, but it's still worked very well for most of my events.

Thank you SO MUCH for this! I’m literally playing in my first tournament tomorrow and I just ordered one of those plaque things for in-store pickup. I don’t know if I’ll be able to build that LEGO holder before tomorrow, but that’ll be a top priority for the near future.

On 2/19/2020 at 10:35 AM, joeshmoe554 said:

Awesome to see my LEGO template holder included as a photo.

I honestly wasn't certain whose it was. We have a local that uses a LEGO template setup as well, but I didn't have pic available. Glad yours was easily findable on the interwebs!

On 2/19/2020 at 9:14 AM, Hatemonger said:

Cafeteria trays.

I had a dish strainer tray that I used for many years, but it was a bit too floppy. So my next tray was a cafeteria tray, that I use to this day.

On 2/19/2020 at 10:35 AM, joeshmoe554 said:

a wood plaque thing I picked up from Michaels

I’m just gonna bump this again because it was the best freaking thing at a store tourney yesterday. It probably wouldn’t have worked as well if I’d been running a horde, or tons of upgrades. But for four ships, three of which had three upgrades each (and the last only had an Autoblaster), it was dead perfect. One game ends, and you just pick it up and scoot to the next.

I'm an old Plano tackle box fan. And I think all the storage/transport options I use are still available if you look for some incredibly good prices.

I have one of the two sided mini boxes for a tokens caddy, and my collection is in some of the 3700 series towers. The upper box section can hold an extra tray and the caddy's, or even comfortable fit a few epic ships. The trays can be bought separately and used to get your bulk storage needs filled stacked on a shelf, then swap into your tower for weekly casual nights as required.

One tray I have is dedicated to play items like templates, rulers, dice, damage deck, obstacles including the new cards, and lasers. So that box and my caddy are all I need beside the squad. For events, I can slightly rearrange it to carry my squad as well, no problem. And can easily slip into my messenger bag with the token caddy

Another recent organization move was to make one tray dedicated to Epic play materials, and one for huge ship stuff. The huge tray just barely will hold the materials for just my Huge ship collection including dials, base plates, turret indicators, shield/energy trackers, and whatever, while the other easily holds all the epic play tokens, remote cards, damage deck and all the rest of it.

The little caddy and single trays are like 5$ or less at Walmart, and the four tray tower is like 50$.