Solving a new problem

 

So as I have been whiling away the hours painting figures and rarely building models during the pandemic I have discovered a problem.  The more I paint, the more I need to store!  This pictures shows my All Quiet on the Martian Front collection, which I have had for some time, but as you can see it takes up quite a bit of space and storage units and this pile does not include the terrain for the game which has its own box.  Something needed to be done.  

Enter the Crstal Caste Battlehive II storage system.  The case is 25 inches wide, 11 inches deep, and 14 inches tall.  It came with six layers for storage, five full width foam trays (one each: 4 inches, 3 inches and 2 inches deep and two 1 inch deep),and one half width foam tray and a dice tray that takes up the other half of a layer.  It also has an extendable pull handle and wheels on the bottom besides the carry handle shown on top.  Finally, it has two "legs on the bottom so that the case will balance and stand upright if the owner so desires while transporting.  :

Crystal Caste is primarily known for making dice.  They make all manner of dice but primarily they make fancy sets of D&D dice.  They sell a set in Sterling Silver that sells for about $250 and this is not their highest price set.  They aslo have a couple of lines of prepainted figures that are very good.  The largest line is called "Elfsera" they are D&D figures.  The company also has a set of Japanese Samurai figures.  As well as a set of Cowboys/gunslingers.  However, I first ran into them because they make the prepainted figures for the Ludus Gladiatorius Game that I use as part of my "Day in Rome" series along side the Gangs of Rome game.  

So lets see how much of my fairly massive Martian game I can fit in here.  

The case comes with on 4 inch deep foam tray.  I used it for my (top to bottom in photograph) two "Red Martians" (elite tripods), my one Grenadier Tripod (their artillery). Three Scout tripods, Two Harvester Tripods (Little ones in the bottom left) and one Slaver/Scientist Tripod (bottom Right).  Additionally there is a variant flying saucer that I use as either a Scientist/Slaver alternative.  

Here is the 3 inch foam layer, going right to left (they are Martians afterall).  There are my six standard Assault Tripods.  At the bottom on the left is the second of my Slaver/Scientist Tripods.  Around the edge in open spaces wre some odd shaped Martian Drones (three lobbers and three scorpions) as they are too tall to fit on the next tray.  In the Far left middle and top are two odd ball American tanks that I dod not have space to stow on the tank sheet.  

Her we hae the first of the two one inch thick foam full sheets.  This one contains all the Martian Small forces.  At the bottom are 12 stands of "Slicers" Humans who have been lobotomized and a radio control device implanted in the space created in thier skulls, and had cutting edges grated into their arms.  They are used to assault the Monkey boys.  Next up are six stands of "Blasters", more lobotomized humans this time with blasters grafted into their computer controlled bodies used as close fire support and once again throw away troops.  All of these Lobotomized humans are called "Lobototons" in game terminology.  On the right side are five stands of Martians on foot, four stands with more powerful blasters and one of scientsists.  More or less in the center are some farm animals.  My Martians adore Cows because they breathe methane and the cows produce so much of it.  There are alsio some individual Martians, playeres enjoy blowing up a trippod, but when a single Martian crewman survives that explosion and is placed on the table, the humans loose their minds trying to kill him!  Far left in the center are my four flying drones (transfered Tau models from 40K).  Finally, at the top are my nine standard drones.  

That completes the Martians, now on to the Humans.  Here we have the Tanks in the two inch foam sheet from the set.  There are 36 Tanks here.  Most of them are American.  American tanks are measured by how man canons they have on board, three being the most.  Starting on the right there are fifteen of the 3 gun style.  Next are three of the 2 gun stule and three of the 1 gun style.  Next there are three British Armored cars.  These are followed by 6 British mobile howitzers, and six British Tanks.  By British I should be saying Canadian as I decided that the Canadians should be fighting in this game too.  So I gave them some British equipment and on some ocassions the poorer quality American vehicles.  

Here we have the second of the one inch thick foam sheets with the American Infantry.  Starting at the top are the two platoons of Armored infantry.  Followed by five platoons of normal infantry. There are also three MG platoons and four Rough Rider platoons (loonies on motorcycles) scattered along the edges and at the bottom.  Additionally scattered through the MG platoons are the Human Civilian stands (also known as future Lobototons), usually the central feature of any game as the human player needs to shepherd them to safety while the Martians are trying to commit as many attrocities as possible.  

That half foam sheet perfectly accomodated the remaining Human troops, mostly the British/Canadians.  Here are three British Rifle Platoons, One British MG platoon and  British Command Platoon.  Additionally, I have three stands of police officers and two Civil Defense MG teams here.  On the left is the dice tray, with the dice, damage trackers for the Tripods (they usually take some killing), plus the obligatory fire markers. In a game where ALL the Martians have heat rays and a zero concerns about using them (NOT MY PLANET MONKEY BOY!!) there is a STRONG chance of fires getting started.  And of course deadly Martian "Green Gas" (stuffing from a former couch cushion).  

So there you have it.  Almost my entire Martian Front collection on one box instead of seven.  Durin the Death throws of the original manufacturer (Alien Dungeon) I bought a bunch of motorcycle riders, they made Texas Rangers, Mexican and Apache motorcyclists.  I also got a pack of the Native American horsemen and 15mm Mexican and American horsemen from other manufacturers as well.  These combined with a "Marine force" that was the last release of the company before they went belly up (imagine that, losing focus and spastically making 15mm historicals infantry instead of tripods and steam punk tanks drives a company into bankrupcy!)  I use this as a fast paced and quick moving variant on the game based around an American incursion into Mexico (Pancho Villa).  These all went into a different box

Just in case you need a visual, there is a LOT of foam left over after getting all this stuff stowed away.  If anyone needs some foam, just let me know, I have literally show boxes full of it.  

And VOILA!  All of it in one box!  Easy for storage.  Ready for a convention (presuming our governor ever allows fun again or I can get abloody shot!) or a night of gaming with the lads.  

There is a small version of this Battlehive that I may also do a review on if there is any interest in this one.  I absoluetley love these storage boxes.  I do not know how it works or why it works, but these things are about as close as I have ever encountered to the old D&D "Bags of holding.  It is truly astounding how much stuff you can pack away in one of these boxes.  If you can find them, I strongly recommend them for yourn figure storage needs, especially if you plan of transporting your figures to conventions at some point in the distant future.