Minis Monday
I’m changing Model Monday to Minis Monday because I didn’t like Model Monday at all which was part of why I never ever did it. Minis Monday is more accurate and doesn’t sound like I’m discussing fashion or something.
So to kick off the new name, I want to discuss something that everyone in a miniature wargames hobby needs to eventually think about – army storage and transportation. We did an episode of Touching Base about this a couple months ago, but it’s on my mind recently. Why is it on my mind? Because the Fearless bought me a Battlefoam Custom 216 case for my birthday this past weekend.Before, the only case I owned was a Sabol Designs Army Transport case.
Both of these bags are solid decisions for anyone who needs to transport a smaller force – 1800 or so points of space marines should fit just fine in either of these bad boys. They’re fairly comparable in price, too. The problem is choosing between the two. So I’m gonna break down the differences here for you.
Pluck foam versus a custom-cut tray: In the Sabol Designs bag, you have a few trays of pluck foam. If you don’t know what pluck foam is, just google it, it’s a simple concept. You pull bits off foam off the tray to make the shape of the model you’re storing. It takes a little time and planning on your part, but it’s no Herculean task. The Battlefoam bag has a custom-cut tray – the foam is literally cut into the shapes of the model (or the right sized rectangle for more generic units) that you’ll be storing. Now, this requires that you know what you’re going to be storing in the bag when you order it, but if you have your army complete, or have a coherent army list, then this isn’t even really an effort you’d need to make. Now, personally, I think both methods are just fine. If I had to choose between the two, though, I’d choose the custom-cut tray. Why? Less mess. When preparing a pluck foam tray, you end up with a lot of foam bits that you just need to either throw away or put in a box for use in whatever craft project you might need it for. If you don’t have use for it, then it’s just a pile of garbage foam you need to throw away. Custom cut trays avoid that problem, and so in this case I give the win to the Battlefoam Case.
Carrying around the Sabol Designs bag versus carrying around the Battlefoam bag: the Sabol Army Transport has a shoulderstrap attached to it. It’s your standard bag strap, probably a vinyl job (I don’t know my fabrics). The problem? It’s too short. I keep it as long as it goes, and for a guy my size (5 foot 7 and the high-end of 200 pounds) it doesn’t fit around me nicely. You could argue that it would be better if I lost some weight, but it’s not JUST the length, but the spot it attaches to on the bag that makes it a bit cumbersome. Is it a dealbreaker? No. However, the Battlefoam case has a shoulderstrap, a briefcase-style handle, and a third handle on the face of it to carry it flat instead of sideways. I haven’t even tried the shoulderstrap because I don’t need to. The briefcase handle has been my go-to method, but I’ll likely use the other handle too. If I ever DO need to use the shoulderstrap, it will probably be better than the Army Transport because the Battlefoam case is shaped like a basic laptop or messenger bag. Another win for Battlefoam.
Army Transport’s many pouches versus Battlefoam’s two small side pouches: the battlefoam case has two little pouches on the side for things like dice or a small rangefinder. They’re not bad, they do the job they’re intended for, but what if you need to carry your codex, or a small rulebook, or blast/flamer/foot of gork and mork templates? You’re kinda boned, you’ll need another bag. This is where the Army Transport by Sabol Designs shines. It’s got more than enough storage space for your non-army necessities. I currently have three codices, a mini rulebook, templates, and dice in my Army Transport along with most of my Black Templars. This win absolutely goes to Army Transport.
Durability: the Army Transport bag is soft vinyl (again, not sure, don’t know my fabrics), relying mostly on the foam for protection in order to keep the bag affordable and lightweight. This isn’t a BAD call, but it requires you to be careful where you put the thing and what you put on top of it. The Battlefoam case has a hard shell. Now, I’m not saying this bad boy can take a bullet or anything even though Battlefoam makes a product that can do that, but it can take more of a beating before your models have to start worrying. The foam becomes a SECOND line of defense, rather than the only line of defense. However, the Battlefoam case remains lightweight, and the price is only about ten bucks higher than the Army Transport. I think this is another win for the Battlefoam product.
Aside from these four differences, the two products are functionally the same. They take up similar amounts of space (in different shapes), they both do the job they’re intend for, etc etc. Some people may disagree with my assessments, or might not care about certain functions (a hard shell versus no hard shell, or the presence or lack of extra pouches), and that’s cool for you. Even having broken down the differences, I don’t know if I’d recommend one case over the other, or if I’ll have loyalty to one brand over the other because I like them both. I’ll be using the Battlefoam case for the army it was intended for – my Blood Angels – but I’ll likely keep using my Army Transport for my Black Templars.
I’ll likely be doing a side-by-side video comparison of the two bags for the Fearless Games channel sometime soon, so if you’re interested in that I’ll post it here.
Coming up Cypress 