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A Bit of a Storage Rant and Ramble
My concept of storage for a game like this, or its sibling Wings, is not at all about travel. I simply don’t take them anywhere, although in the recent past I would haul them along on month long wilderness seacoast kayak expeditions. Laying in a tent in a storm at the edge of the world or out on a tiny island offshore as a storm rages and the tents shelters admirably, is to experience a form of sanctuary and the resultant degree of immersion from a game played by headlamp in that tent with the wind howling like hades and waves booming like a frigate salvo . . . is unlike any other.
Shot of us on remote BC coast back in the day playing a German copy of Settlers of Catan:
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And yes, I would take fragile miniatures into this world. Stored in foam inside a bomber Pelicase. But these days the purpose of storage for me for a game like Sails is to have the ships at hand, secured in foam or magnets or something inside trays or boxes, but more importantly, in a quality, elegant manner. These trays would be modular so that I can take one out to admire the ships, study the logs, or carry to the game table.
I don’t much like the phrase ‘pride of ownership’. It sounds like a materialistic paradigm, something I am half-heartedly struggling to distance myself from. But I do feel that pleasant contentment, satisfaction or pride, is it? . . . that a lovingly curated and utilized collection can provide. In fact, I may get more pleasure, albeit subtle, reflecting on the possession of such a collection than the actual play of it.
Which brings me to Sails and how to store it because this is as important to me as the game itself. I have yet to see a pic of Keith’s Dry Docks with ships inside. Does anyone have one they could post here? I like the circumspect aspect of holding cards ships and logs. Even at only three ships per tray, it seems both convenient and portable to bring to the table. But how does it look with ships placed vertically in their slots? And what is the ease of taking them in and out?
By comparison I looked over the KR Multicase line and quickly dismissed it. I think Keith is onto something with the Microcell foam, as long as it is not so dense that the fingers can’t squeeze in to pick up a ship. And as for the ship logs, where are they stored? Underneath and loose? There is only one review on the Aerodrome to date and it was ambivalent, saying the slots are a little tight for the cards. Can anyone provide more insight on this?
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My current transportation & storage system
I have found that the Flambeau brand of the large and deep multi-section plastic containers answer handsomely well for the most part. The front pockets that have the handle recesses are a bit of a pain for ship storage however. I store the movement cards and ship logs in a separate container made by Plano which is likewise a deep multi-section container.
I had thought of putting the ships logs and movement decks together in the same container and actually did so until my ship collection out grew the containers. I would like to get more of the Flambeau versions of containers, unfortunately I ran into an availability issue for them. The Plano deep well containers do not answer as the sections are not wide enough to accomodate the width of the ships base. Lengthwise they are fine.
I store all of the containers and the ship log mats and play mats, damage counters and counter bags etc in a large rolling upright suitcase.
See attached photos of the containers etc.
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This is the Flambeau container with the French ships in it.
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This container is the Plano container with the ships Log boards and movement cards. Each ships log and movement deck are combined together in a ziplock storage bag and then placed in the container. Each faction is put together.
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This is a standard large container that I keep the different tokens range rulers etc in.
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This is the ship's log mat that I attached to a piece of foamcore. I deliberately extended the length to allow for the cards to fit onto the board. The log board still fits into the appropriate spot as usual.
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This is the large rolling upright suitcase that it all goes into. It is large enough that I can fit both of my SoG play mats into when rolled up and secured.
This configuration works well for the most part for local transport to and from my home to the local game store for game play.
If I were to travel via airline, I could check this bag in as luggage. I would of course secure the ships into their slots with perhaps cotton wadding or something to keep them from rattling around in their pockets.
