Post by Whiterook on May 5, 2023 9:58:57 GMT -5
I’m planning a thread on this in the PX’s Armory, on specific products, but thought I’d throw out a discussion here on Counter Storage Solutions.
OK, so the title was perhaps a tad over dramatic
I’ve found myself, perhaps finally (?) coming out of a path down a long, mysterious road of counter storage solution mayhem. I’m an old dog wargamer from what has been called the Golden Age of Avalon Hill (…and Victory Games, SPI, and a host of other heralded Wargames), where games came with, or were sold with game trays as accessories. As a young lad who played plenty of family games that came stocked with various tray systems, this wasn’t too far off a concept for me and figured, “…well, maybe this is how it’s done?!?”
Problem was, the lids ahead as a bad habit of coming off in these “bookshelf” games that are designed to sit upright like books. Yeah, you could use big post office style rubber bands, or office document clips of some sort, but those weren’t always a perfect solution.
As a young lad, with young agile fingers, digging out the counters from the tray wells wasn’t much of an issue, but as I got older, and less nimble fingered, it becomes an issue…even with tweezers! …suction tools have become my best friend in this regard. These trays were also rather flimsy in the bottom tray portion and sometimes cracked.
These days, counter trays are being made much sturdier, yet surprisingly different in features. Two companies had become a favorite for me, offering deep wells (an innovative new concept), made for use with their systems… being Dan Verrsen Games (DVG) and Lock ‘N Load Publishing (LNLP); DVGs have an odd lid placement where it sits atop the tall tray sides and presents a knock-over risk from awkward hand movement in-game, whereas LNLPs has a better seal, which made them my preferred tray over DVGs. Then I found Wild Buffalo Aegis trays, which are no deep-welled and more like the tradition trays; yet the lids form completely around the sides all the way down and lock in place (there are two thumb crescents atop the ends to aid I’d prying the kid off)… these are now my preferred trays for low counter density games that do t need a deep well.
An example of the DVG whacky lid is pictured below on the right, the Aegis lowboy on the left…
Note the odd high rise of the DVG tray! I hate it.
The comparison above and the picture below also illustrtrates just what you pay for the need for deep wells.
…the DVGs (as well as the LNlPs sit almost to the top of the standard game box (granted, with maps and charts below). The Aegis tray rides a bit higher than the old Avalon Hill/Victory Games trays I’d accumulated over the decades, but is still a nice lowboy, as shown below…
There are other tray makes, one of which I remember has a lid that is totally attacked to one long edge and folds over and down like a book cover. But there’s not a lot of variants out there; DVG and LNLP are the only two that I know of that are deep dish.
This tray system from Academy Games, for their “Conflict..” games is perhaps the most innovative versions I’ve seen and used, and are absolutely perfect! The counters are angled for flipping through and easy retrieval.
I wish some game company would make generic versions along these lines for smaller, typical sized counters!
So OK, what does this have to do with the title of those thread, you may be asking…
A couple years ago, I played a gamer friend at an expo that uses small baggies for all his counters. Convenient sizes come in 3x4 inch and 4-5 inch bags in part, in which you can separate your counters in type, formation, etc. I was impressed at being able to say, “hey, I need German Fallschimjager units”, and there’s the baggie! Simple. No pinching into tray wells trying to find that one HQ unit stuffed amongst fifteen counters! Some of these baggies come with “white block”, where you can write the descriptive for eaisier identification of what bag to look in (you can easily use a label maker for said, as well).
A good example of these baggies can be found here and is pictured below…
Am I switching to baggies? Probably
OK, so the title was perhaps a tad over dramatic
I’ve found myself, perhaps finally (?) coming out of a path down a long, mysterious road of counter storage solution mayhem. I’m an old dog wargamer from what has been called the Golden Age of Avalon Hill (…and Victory Games, SPI, and a host of other heralded Wargames), where games came with, or were sold with game trays as accessories. As a young lad who played plenty of family games that came stocked with various tray systems, this wasn’t too far off a concept for me and figured, “…well, maybe this is how it’s done?!?” Problem was, the lids ahead as a bad habit of coming off in these “bookshelf” games that are designed to sit upright like books. Yeah, you could use big post office style rubber bands, or office document clips of some sort, but those weren’t always a perfect solution.
As a young lad, with young agile fingers, digging out the counters from the tray wells wasn’t much of an issue, but as I got older, and less nimble fingered, it becomes an issue…even with tweezers! …suction tools have become my best friend in this regard. These trays were also rather flimsy in the bottom tray portion and sometimes cracked.
These days, counter trays are being made much sturdier, yet surprisingly different in features. Two companies had become a favorite for me, offering deep wells (an innovative new concept), made for use with their systems… being Dan Verrsen Games (DVG) and Lock ‘N Load Publishing (LNLP); DVGs have an odd lid placement where it sits atop the tall tray sides and presents a knock-over risk from awkward hand movement in-game, whereas LNLPs has a better seal, which made them my preferred tray over DVGs. Then I found Wild Buffalo Aegis trays, which are no deep-welled and more like the tradition trays; yet the lids form completely around the sides all the way down and lock in place (there are two thumb crescents atop the ends to aid I’d prying the kid off)… these are now my preferred trays for low counter density games that do t need a deep well.
An example of the DVG whacky lid is pictured below on the right, the Aegis lowboy on the left…
Note the odd high rise of the DVG tray! I hate it.
The comparison above and the picture below also illustrtrates just what you pay for the need for deep wells.
…the DVGs (as well as the LNlPs sit almost to the top of the standard game box (granted, with maps and charts below). The Aegis tray rides a bit higher than the old Avalon Hill/Victory Games trays I’d accumulated over the decades, but is still a nice lowboy, as shown below…
There are other tray makes, one of which I remember has a lid that is totally attacked to one long edge and folds over and down like a book cover. But there’s not a lot of variants out there; DVG and LNLP are the only two that I know of that are deep dish.
This tray system from Academy Games, for their “Conflict..” games is perhaps the most innovative versions I’ve seen and used, and are absolutely perfect! The counters are angled for flipping through and easy retrieval.
I wish some game company would make generic versions along these lines for smaller, typical sized counters!
So OK, what does this have to do with the title of those thread, you may be asking…
A couple years ago, I played a gamer friend at an expo that uses small baggies for all his counters. Convenient sizes come in 3x4 inch and 4-5 inch bags in part, in which you can separate your counters in type, formation, etc. I was impressed at being able to say, “hey, I need German Fallschimjager units”, and there’s the baggie! Simple. No pinching into tray wells trying to find that one HQ unit stuffed amongst fifteen counters! Some of these baggies come with “white block”, where you can write the descriptive for eaisier identification of what bag to look in (you can easily use a label maker for said, as well).
A good example of these baggies can be found here and is pictured below…
Am I switching to baggies? Probably
