Hi folks,
This is my first post on this website. I'm a teacher and musician from Canada. Arkham Horror and Mansions of Madness brought me to this website, for information on the rules and customization ideas for storage, play and longevity of the components.
I've spent the last two weeks of my summer vacation making an epic storage system for AH, I'm almost done (putting on final coats of polyurethane this afternoon).
While waiting for the coats to dry, I'm wrapping up a few other customization items (sewing dice and monster bags is one). I decided to paint the sides of the monster tokens. Piling them all on the desk I tried to find a way to speed up the painting process. I stacked a bunch in a pile squeezed them tight and painted the sides all at once.

The paint bled into the cardboard, and the moist cardboard made all the tokens stick together!! I had to pry them apart and rip up each face... You can't imagine how my heart sank, especially after putting in like a hundred hours on this custom storage system.... I repainted the edges to try and cover up the torn white cardboard. Some tokens are worse than others, but I think they have been salvaged overall.

They look snappy with the colored edge, but it seems I will have to do them individually one by one. sigh.

I was planning to clear coat all the tokens to protect them, but I'm concerned about humidity and cadboard curling now that I've seen how paint takes to it. Perhaps a coat of diluted white glue would seal the cardboard shut before spraying sealant on (krylon low odor clear matte).

I am looking forward to posting pictures and a narrative about this epic storage system. So many good ideas already out there; I was inspired by http://boardgamegeek.com/thread/714563/arkham-horror-casemod... , crafthulhu and others.
There will be MANY pictures. Are there rules or bad manners about posting huge picture thread here?

I tried to touch up the numbers and damage indicators that were ripped up, as well as some of the text.
Paint matching was pretty good with just basic colors no mixing.
I used the smallest pen I had but the exposed cardboard soaked and made some letters too big.
I think I can live with this, it's only 14 tokens out of 150 or so, and the ones below are the worst and only ones with touch ups.

I believe these can be replaced if you contact Fantasy Flight, and I don't think they charge an arm and leg either--not even on shipping. These definitely will do the job, and you did a great job salvaging them for sure, but once your able, you could definitely get them replaced fairly easily. Still, it's good to know how 'absorbent' these monsters are!

Sorry to hear this, especially after all your hard work. I would contact FFG support they are very helpful in such situations.

I for one am interested in your craft, so please go ahead and tell us more.

Two bits of friendly advice

1) Don't ever cut corners again. Take your time. This is the valuable lesson here.

2) Don't use a clear matte, it gets grainy, use a semi matte (in States its semi gloss) lacquer. It wont cause problems, but it will smell for a while of course. The glue will not be necessary and may cause problems later - you are adding more water and it wont seal the card from water anyway.

It's hard to be sure from the pictures, but some of them actually look pretty cool. If it was me, I'd just roll with it; try to find a lacquer with a hint of yellow or sepia for an aged finish, and pretend it was intentional

It's hard to be sure from the pictures, but some of them actually look pretty cool. If it was me, I'd just roll with it; try to find a lacquer with a hint of yellow or sepia for an aged finish, and pretend it was intentional

nice!

What did you paint the edges with? Markers? Paint and brush?

I touched up all of my monster tokens with markers, but only on the printed sides, before sliding them into the coin holders. There were no seeping-paint accidents because I really tried to avoid the edges. Those edges looked reaaaally spongy

What did you paint the edges with? Markers? Paint and brush?

I touched up all of my monster tokens with markers, but only on the printed sides, before sliding them into the coin holders. There were no seeping-paint accidents because I really tried to avoid the edges. Those edges looked reaaaally spongy

just paint, didn't dilute it.

painting the edges is working out great; it's only the stack I tried to do all at once that didn't work out well.

What did you paint the edges with? Markers? Paint and brush?

I touched up all of my monster tokens with markers, but only on the printed sides, before sliding them into the coin holders. There were no seeping-paint accidents because I really tried to avoid the edges. Those edges looked reaaaally spongy

just paint, didn't dilute it.

painting the edges is working out great; it's only the stack I tried to do all at once that didn't work out well.

Ah ok, so I guess the paint bled between the tokens and kind of glued them together afterwards.

They do look cool with painted edges, though. But you definitely want to protect them in some way, otherwise the cardboard edges will degrade over time in the monster cup.

Here's what they look like - this has turned into quite the time sink, but I'm almost done. Yellow took 4-5 coats, what a weak pigment!

Here's what they look like - this has turned into quite the time sink, but I'm almost done. Yellow took 4-5 coats, what a weak pigment!

Wow, nice work They look more solid now.