So with 40K and my past table top games I ended up with alot of small cases.

I was wondering if anyone has any suggestions for home made (or store bought) easy carry cases for Dust Tactics?

i dont use minis cases for this game my self , but i did see this over at dakkadakka , and thought it was a good idea for a cheaper way to make custom fit casses .

http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/362407.page;jsessionid=6C17C1680AB11F400C352938A815A648

I use the starter box myself. I currently have 3 foam trays in there to carry the men and compartmentised the rest with small boxes to carry the mechs with plenty of room for expansion.

I use the large citadel case thats hold about 200 figures. Its about $100 but it does hold about 200 figs comfortably.

The problem is the walkers. Battlefoam has a set designed for the starter set but I don't believe that it works well. I don't know whether anyone has tried it because so far no one makes a comment in any of the forums.

wildger said:

I've got one on order. Will post up a review when it arrives.

I do like the Battlefoam trays, but the downside for me is the price of their cases. the trays are 52.00 for the three with space for some of the expansions (which is not to bad for the trays) and 80.00 for the case. I want to try and find something like an ammo create or something that will hold the trays.

Yep, I'll probably be grabbing this from Battlefoam shortly:

http://www.battlefoam.com/products/Dust-Tactics-Kit-for-the-P.A.C.K.-432-%28BF%29.html

Major Malfunction said:

Thank you first. I really like to know how many walkers can it hold? Do you still need to take apart the walker first to fit in? Can it accommodate all the figures, terrain, ammo crates and figures from the starer set and the first expansion?

If you look at the 3 pieces of foam it appears it will hold 8 mechs (which you have to take turret off of allies and arms off of the axis). plenty of room for soldiers though. 1 piece of foam for axis troops and walker arms, 1 foam for allie troops and turrets and the last one holds walker bodies and terrain elements. It appears that they have not made a deal with FFG completely yet as with other companies, but I am sure once they do you will be able to make your own custom foam trays through them, which you could do now if you are good at geomatry

So, I got my Battle foam trays yesterday. There is room for 4 allied walkers and 4 axis walkers, 8 ammo crates, and 6 tank traps ( if you stack them ). Each of the faction trays hold about 6 5-man units and 4 spots for guys with communication packs and 4 additional spots for heros( i guess), there is also a spot to put each of the weapon options for the wakers ( including artillary ).

Downsides to this foam option.

on the Axis walkers in the Mech tray the litle smoke stack on the back sits slightly above the foam which may lead to it breaking off. For me the main downside is the fact that there is only 1 spot for each of the weapon options for the walkers, while they included the spots for the Artillary options, they did not include spots for the extra weapons that come with the expansion Walker kits to make the 2 orginal walkers.

I do like this foam set and I think It will make it easier to cart my stuff around instead of have everything in the main box set and banging around. I do hope that battlefoam strikes a deal with FFG to produce foam for their minatures at which point you would be able to design your own layout.

Thanks for the review! While not perfect, I like that the trays offer some expandability from the core set. I'll be picking up a set.

Another thing, I just purchased the 720 bag, and it rocks. Unless you have something specific in mind, I think the extra storage height of the 720 makes it something to consider over the 432; of course the 720 being a cube doesn't carry from the shoulder as nicely.

Cheers!

I use a large, soft case called "Motor Pool", it has 6 trays inside made of pre-perforated foam that you remove to custom fit your models. It has trays 5 inches deep that fit the walkers on there side ok and room for about 100 troops, and 8 to 10 walkers. This case was also used to cart around my IG army including a Baneblade! So I have no doubt it will accomodate the Heavy Walkers once they arrive!!! If I remember correctly it was about $100, including the inserts, of wich more can be bought seperatly.

It has the obligatory pouches and book pockets and such. It also takes the aplication of Punk Spikes, wich I have liberaly covered on 5 of its 6 sides, making it my Spiney-cube of Nerd Power! And I'm sure ruining any water-proofing potential the bag once had!

It works well for me.

Have fun blow'n stuff up!!

I have both BF and Portable Warfare. Both are great for the price...

http://www.portablewarfare.com/

I stole the idea someone had in one of the older posts. I measured the original core box and took some posterboard and cut enough to give me a 3x4 grid for the walkers in half the box and then a 7x6 or so grid for the infantry. That holds everything except for a couple of walkers which I have loose in my second original core box. I'm going to replicate my work and use the second box as a carry case also. Which means I carry in two original core boxes plus my one revised core box (with rules, poster maps, map tiles, etc.) and I'm covered. If I start getting worried about portability, I have an old folding luggage carrier that I could use and bungee cord the boxes to it.

Another idea I'm using for 40k stuff is the four pistol Plano case , and I'd definitely recommend the Dremel sharpening kit for making the hole cutters. It would adapt well to DT minis.

Since I went with the Battle Foam trays and PACK 720, I thought I would post some pictures loaded out so you could see what you get. I am very happy with this set up, as it carries the original box set, the revised box set, and all the non-duplicate units out thus far with room to spare (provided you get two Grey Knights trays for the extra troops. The trays also hold all the spare bits -- took me a bit to figure out you have to stack two turrets, two weapons, etc. With the addition of the PACK Plus, which zips to the bottom of the 720, you get an additional 6" of space; this is where I carry my tiles and such, or my Dystopian Wars fleets.

Pricey? Maybe, but you can't beat the quality or the customer service -- nor the convienence or protection.

Cheers!

(not sure why I can't get the image loader to work, so here are the links to the pics)

www.flickr.com/photos/kiltedwolf/6474026035/

www.flickr.com/photos/kiltedwolf/6474026465/

I notice that you've got two walker bases sticking up out of the walker area of the case. Do you have to store some walkers upside down?

I made a foam insert for the core set box. It works very well, holds 98 troops and 9 walkers.

KiltedWolf said:

Very Nice! I was looking at different options, such as portable tool kits and fishing boxes. Still trying to find the right one.

How much did the whole setup cost you?

I do like using the original Core box setup which seems to work well also.

Wombattangofoxtrot said:

Nope, all the walkers are stored right-side up. The foam only holds 8 walkers, and I have 10, so I placed two of the light walkers upside and alongside another walker. No paint yet, so no big deal -- just need to order another walker foam.

Cheers!

Jiltedtoo said:

Thank you! I am German and a Virgo, so I love organization!

As to approximate cost, the bag $80, DT foam $50, and $36 two Grey Knight trays ( Battlefoam provides a veteran's discount). Not cheap, but neither is the money I have sunk into just this one game; and I have some room for expansion. Romeo is a brother Marine and a stand up guy who makes a quality product. There are a lot of options out there, and for me, this was the way to go. Besides, I can use the 720 bag for other games -- and I like the artwork on the original core box and was thinking of framing it for the rec room.

The great thing about this forum is you can "talk" with others, see what they have put together, and then determine what suits your needs and budget best.

Cheers!

Dakkon426 said:

Nicely done! I just like the box's artwork to much to use it for transport -- thinking of framing it for the rec room. I do like this idea though -- easy on the budget, and works for more than just the core box.

I might have to borrow this idea for a friend's box! What are the dimensions of the cutouts, and what material did you use -- looks like closed cell foam, like a foam pad for camping?

Cheers!

Check out this thread . It has a brief overview of what I did, Also I looked at the foam I used, and it is 1/8th inch bluecore extruded polystyrene foam but it is no longer manufactured at that thickness; 3mm Depron is the closest thing I know of. so far I have done this for 2 core boxes one for my allies and one for my axis troops.

Dakkon426 said:

I used plain posterboard and I forget the dimensions I used. It is fairly straightforward to cut and fit, then trim for any "oopsies". I designed for 12 walker slots and the rest infantry. I'd definitely recommend doing a mixed walker/infantry box each time. I thought about doing one for walkers and one for infantry, but that would have left me with a lot of spare space in the infantry box plus IMO it is easier to deal with a smaller tray of infantry in the mixed build.

Here's my solution. It's more of a storage case than a transport case, as my Dust collection is pretty stationary. I favoured storage capacity over perfect accomodation, since I usually keep my collection in one place, but this still works pretty well for moving it and driving it around.

(click to enlarge)

With two Core Set boxes I was able to easily store my entire collection, which contains pretty much everything in existence, but the heavy walkers and Cerberus.

The first box I divided in two. On one side I have all the tiles, booklets, stat cards and dice. You'll also see some cubes for ammo, health and skills, and those green pegs are used to mark activations. The other side I divided into two levels for troop figures. The cross division is 5,5cm tall and holds the upper tray. Then each quarter is divided in 16 spaces by thin cardboard that's only 1,5cm tall. This means the figures can tip over if you bump the box too strongly, but mostly they remain each in their slot. The low walls mean I can fit any figure in the slots, even a heavy trooper with arms and guns sticking out. The two levels together fit 128 figures, which is more than enough to fit every figure currently in existence. Note that the total height of the divisions is 11cm, which means the box lid has been raised 1cm, I did this so I could fit the taller figures, like the radioman.

The other is the walker box, which I just divided with strong cardboard into 18 slots, 11cm tall (again, the box lid is lifted, so that I can safely fit the walkers with guns on top). This easily accomodates every walker in the line, with space to spare for tank traps and ammo crates. I just had to cut a few specific slits to allow for certain cannons that stick out.

I'm very pleased with this storage/transport method. It's sturdy, relatively compact, safe and completely inexpensive.