Piece Storage and keeping games intact

[Private-Panic]

There are three options for mixing units from different versions I of which I am aware Wolf:

:-o Black Elk’s excellent idea of combining all the powers’ units into a box for each unit type, allowing the colour difference to work in your favour.

:-o Using an organiser such as the one you have pictured to separate unit types by Power. I play with a forum colleague each month and this is how he sorts his units. I actually find it quite a faff finding the right compartment for the unit I want each time.

:-o Using a box for each Power’s units. I do this because 1940 comes with some excellent boxes - one for each Power - and so it seemed the obvious thing to do. Although it means that I have to sort through multiple units of the same colour to get to the one that I want, for me the faff factor is slightly reduced on the previous option, but we are all different.

The first option, as shared by Black Elk, is clearly the best. But I cannot bring myself to let go of the lovely boxes provided for each Power in 1940 just yet.

[Wolfshanze]

Well, I’m neither 100% limited to two, just feeling things out, and ATM, I don’t have plans on any of the 1940 games in the immediate future.  So, for the foreseeable future, I’m looking at a merged 41/42… and since 1941 is a “whopping” 8 Infantry, 5 tanks, 4 fighters, 2 bombers kind of thing for each country, think of it more as a storage solution for 1942SE with a few extra units thrown in! lolz… either way, its still 5 countries tops for my immediate future plans.

Also, I’m getting a feel for how many bins i’ll need and how I’m going to break up the countries. The nice thing about the Stanley organizers is they have removeable bins that come in three sizes (small/medium and large), so while “25 bins” is the default, you can add or remove larger/smaller bins to make it have more or less than 25 depending on your needs.

I’m not averse to mixing things that would be easily distinguishable from one another at a glance… like maybe one bin for fighters and bombers combined… and I might even mix nations at least from the same side… it all depends how the compartmentization works. That one guy in this thread put all infantry in one bin, all tanks in one bin, etc, etc… it is easy to pick out German tanks from Japanese tanks in the same bin, so I see the logic in that approach.

I also know its 3 Allied vs 2 Axis, so it’s not 100% even between two cases, but I would put the “neutral” things like Industrial Plants and AA in the same case as the Axis to balance out.  No matter, I’m not bound to two and only two, I’m playing it by ear… if I can make them comfortably and logically fit in two cases, I will… if there’s not enough room or not enough bins for good organization, they’re only $12 a pop for the cases, I can get a third or a fourth if need be… either way I’m really looking at a slightly beefed up 1942 SE list of units… i’ll see how it goes this weekend, if I need more cases, i’ll do what needs to be done!

EDIT:
Just saw your post Private Panic… I saw Black Elk’s idea, and it seems intriguing… what I might do is OPTION 4: two cases, using Black Elk’s idea, with all Allies mixed by type in one case and all/both Axis missed by type in a 2nd case (as I can trade out bins from small/med/large to accommodate my plans).

[CWO Marc]

The nice thing is that any system you devise that is based on trays with dividers is going to be infinitely superior to the Zip-lock bag technique. I used Zip-lock bags in the early days of my collecting activities, but I gave up on it when I got to the point where organizing each power’s pieces required putting several small bags inside larger bags.  I discovered Flambeau Zerust plastic tackle boxes around that time, and my life hasn’t been the same since.

[Private-Panic]

@CWO:

I discovered Flambeau Zerust plastic tackle boxes around that time, and my life hasn’t been the same since.� Â

The mind boggles Marc! What is it that you get up to with these boxes?!

[Wolfshanze]

Or I might just do one really big Ziplock bag… if I had to REALLY organize them… I could use two giant ziplock bags, one for Axis and one for Allies…

[dramatic pause]

Or i’ll stick with the Stanley Bin Organizer idea… when I get everything up and running, i’ll take some pics for the forum.

[CWO Marc]

@Private:

@CWO:

I discovered Flambeau Zerust plastic tackle boxes around that time, and my life hasn’t been the same since.� �Â

The mind boggles Marc! What is it that you get up to with these boxes?!

Phrased as a formal argumentation:

• Collecting and organizing A&A sculpts is one of my life’s major recreational activities.

• The Flambeau Zerust plastic tackle boxes have greatly helped me to carry out this organization activity.

• Ergo, those boxes have had a major impact on my life.

[CWO Marc]

Here are some sample pictures of my current tray configuration.  These two pictures show the trays for Japan, one of the major powers whose primary sculpts are stored in two trays.

[CWO Marc]

And here we see the tray for France, one of the minor powers whose primary sculpts are stored in one tray.  There’s also a picture of what the tray looks like when the cover is closed.

[Wolfshanze]

So this is why you threw away all your poker chips… you don’t need to stack units on chips!  Good Lord, how many sets of the game do you have combined there?  That’s a plethora of units!

[CWO Marc]

@Wolfshanze:

So this is why you threw away all your poker chips… you don’t need to stack units on chips!  Good Lord, how many sets of the game do you have combined there?  That’s a plethora of units!

I didn’t throw away my poker chips; they’re housed in their own plastic storage boxes.  The chips are organized into several trays, and compartmentalized within each tray.  Currently, I have some secondary trays which are for the old-style small-ridge A&A mini poker chips, plus a primary tray for the handsome new-style large-ridge ones which are stamped with the A&A logo.  “How many sets of the game do you have combined there?” is a tough one to answer because the answer depends case-by-case on each unit.  Some units don’t go back very far in the game history of A&A because the designs changed or the colour changed (or both changed), or because the units themselves are new.  Some go further back because they became standardized at an earlier date.  The Japanese carrier, battleship, destroyer, submarine and naval transport are probably the pooled units that go back the furthest; they haven’t changed since the burnt-orange version of the original Pacific game (the early printings of which had cherry red Japanese units).

[Wolfshanze]

Went back and forth between a few stores looking at multiple options for national storage bins, and debated on larger organizers for sides (like one big for Axis and one big one for Allies), or smaller bins for each (of the 5) nations.

Ended up buying five small bins, one for each nation and an extra one for neutral/industrial plants (from my A&A Classic), etc.

Below is a couple of examples… ended up getting 13-compartment Stack-On bin organizers from Lowes for about $3 bucks a pop.  They are adjustable… I was only able to pick up 1941 today, so it looks like a ghost-town in each bin… I have room to further subdivide if/when necessary after I get 1942 later this week (had to order it, since apparently Pensacola is only good enough for stocking 1941) and my reinforcements from HBG.

[Wolfshanze]

Finishing up work on my national storage bins… removed the store/manufacturer label from each bin, and since there’s one bin for each nation, I custom made some product label stickers that I will be putting on each bin cover using battle and/or national flags for each:

[CWO Marc]

Nice stickers – including the fact that the correct WWII-era version of the US flag is being used.  Are you laser-printing them on Avery sticky label stock or using some other method?

[Wolfshanze]

Thanks… I’m having them “professionally” done… www.vistaprint.com (Small Product Label Stickers - Rectangle  3.43" x 1.93" size).  Simply upload whatever picture files you want printed, they print up the stickers and send them back.

I of course used the 1912 American Flag for a WWII sticker… using anything else would be like using today’s German tricolor flag for WWII Germany.  The Governors of all 48 states would agree!
:-D

[CWO Marc]

@Wolfshanze:

I of course used the 1912 American Flag for a WWII sticker… using anything else would be like using today’s German tricolor flag for WWII Germany.Â

Actually, your reference to the German flag made me notice that the flag you’re using for Germany is the Kriegsmarine flag and the flag you’re using for Japan is the IJN naval ensign.  They’re actually good choices in the sense that (in my opinion at least) they’re more attractive designs than the main national flags, but strictly speaking they’re naval flags.

By the way, you may already have noticed that the out-of-the-box US A&A roundels are, strictly speaking, incorrect for the period from 1942 onward because they contain a red dot in the middle of the star.  The dot was deleted soon after Pearl Harbor because of its resemblance to the red-disc Japanese roundel.

[Wolfshanze]

I’m aware of the Battle Flags as opposed to national flags… I just like them as spiffier emblems and they’re still WWII specific. The German flag I used is actually the Reichskriegsflagge. Often mistaken as strictly a naval flag, it’s actually designed personally by Adolf Hitler… this flag served the Heer (Army) and the Luftwaffe as their War Flag, and the Kriegsmarine as its War Ensign (the National Flag serving as Jack). This flag was hoisted daily in barracks operated by units of the Wehrmacht combined German military forces, and it had to be flown from a pole positioned near the barracks entrance, or failing this, near the guard room or staff building.

P.S.
Pretty much the same thing with the Japanese Rising Sun flag… that’s a battle/war flag too, also used by the IJA from 1870-1945… much like the Reichskriegsflagge, it wasn’t limited to just the Navy… hence I feel the use of battle/war flags to denote the military trays of Japan & Germany is perfectly fine. Once I get everything to where I like it (extra units from HBG and bins properly marked), i’ll repost pics of my final results (and probably next to my nearly empty 1941-only bins for comparison).

Attached a pic of the Reichskiegsflagge in use… definitely not the Kriegsmarine hoisting the flag!

[Wolfshanze]

I got my bin stickers back from Vistaprint… lookin good… now to spruce up my five nation storage bins…

Edit:
With one overall pic of the 6 bins with stickers…

[Wolfshanze]

Here’s the final pics of my five national storage bins with stickers (the 6th is the Neutral Armies/Sundries bin).

[cyanight]

Very nice!  I also put stickers on my boxes.

[Wolfshanze]

@cyanight:

Very nice!  I also put stickers on my boxes.

Picture, or it didn’t happen!  (can we see?)