I’ve posted here before about my infatuation with Flying Frog’s Shadows of Brimstone game. I heavily backed the Kickstarter, and am hoping to see the last of what I backed here sometime this summer (after 3 years of development, adding on to it, shipping and printing issues, and so forth – you know, a Kickstarter, not a preorder system).
Anyway, one thing SOB has going for it, at least for me, is stuff. Lots and lots of stuff. Cards, tokens, map tiles, enemy reference cards, did I mention cards? I’d have to count them up but it’s hundreds of cards if not upwards of a thousand plus now. Oh and lots of miniatures.
I don’t game solely at home so my SOB collection needs to be both transportable and easily stored when not in use. Here are my current solutions to both problems. So far everything’s worked great.
MAP TILES
This might be the simplest of the storage solutions. Hanging file storage box and folders. I Picked up this guy at Staples and has worked great. It currently holds all the map tile releases through the 1.5 mailing and Trederra, but not the Derelict Ship or Blasted Wastes. I think I can get them to fit, but may need a second one once I get the contents in hand. Process: I was loathe to do it, but for this game you need quick access to the materials, so I went ahead and printed up small clear Avery labels for each tile and the relevant Map cards. Instead of coding by room name (as seen in the picture, I’ve since reworked things) I went ahead and did a simple system. Each boxed set has a letter, such as T for Trederra, then a number for the tile. The two cards referencing the tile (the Mines Map deck and corresponding Otherworld Map deck) also get a sticker with the same number. Like I said, I hated putting stickers on anything, but it’s worked like a dream for speeding up game play. “Map tile T-12.” Bam, go to box and grab T-12, profit.
TOKENS
Brimstone has a loooot of tokens. It’s token overload for some players and the different types can take up a good amount of table real estate during a game. I wanted a way to easily transport and then access what we needed during each game no matter where we were. Also to have containers to pass around so all players had easy access to Wounds or Sanity or Corruption (yay) while we played. Solution: The Stanley 25-compartment organizer. This thing is amazing. It has different sized compartments for varying size and quantity components. I ran out of room with one so I bought a second and haven’t looked back. I even keep the map tile end cap pieces in one of these, dice, badges for our Marshal and Sheriff, and so on. Best thing? Modular. These compartments can be rearranged and removed for use during a game. What I’ve done with them is anything we need for setup (objects, terrain, and so on) are all in one of the organizers while the pieces we use in nearly every game are in the second. Cannot recommend enough (and they have handles!). Sorry for the blurry pic, I’ll get a better one in here.
CARDS
There are loooots of cards for SOB as well. Keeping track of what you need, having them ready for play in the game, storing and sorting outside of the game. Kind of a hassle. I used to keep them in a selection of Upper Deck card boxes, but that became unwieldy, especially if any were left behind. I still keep our campaign characters’ current cards in a large card box so they don’t get mixed up with the other character cards, but that’s it. Currently everything else is in a Hobby Lobby Artist Supply Sketch Box with a Broken Token insert made specifically for the case (it’s in the insert description, but remember it FITS THAT CASE SPECIFICALLY). I preferred the darker color linked above, but there is a plain wood style case as well – stock number is in the BT insert description. I also ordered an additional set of dividers knowing how many card types there were in the game. Be sure to order the divider pack referenced in the Broken Token item description. I found a generic set from BT that looked the same size at my LGS, but turns out were off about 1/16″ and that was enough to make them useless for this project. The cards are sorted by world and type where possible. I’m running out of room in this and worry that when I do get the last sets, including the monster add on packs I may need to get another one or relegate some of these back to card boxes (looking at you money cards, and character cards…and scenario deck). But until then it’s awesome and makes finding things very easy. In game we use a Hold-It card organizer for the most commonly used cards (actually two now, love them so much).
MINIATURES
The miniatures for this game posed a unique challenge. I wanted to keep them protected, but at the same time needed them to be easily accessed during a game. I started with standard miniature cases I had already lying around, but those only covered the smaller models and not always with their odd sizes and shapes. The larger stuff was relegated to a Really Useful Box that I also kept my poker chips (for XP), darkstones, doorways, town board, and other miscellaneous items for the game I couldn’t store elsewhere, like the awesome resin Depth Tracker.
Eventually I bit the bullet and decided to magnetize all my SOB miniatures. I bought additional Really Useful Boxes (Staples, Orchard Supply Hardware, online) with heights that worked for the varying sizes of models, and lined them with simple roofing shingles. I glued in rare earth magnets from Amazing Magnets and went to town. Oh look, I even posted on it: https://shinypennymusings.wordpress.com/2016/08/29/shadows-of-brimstone-model-storage-option/
But here are a couple pics to show the results:
RULE BOOKS/REFERENCE CARDS
I won’t bore you with pictures of the standard 3-ring binder I have for the tall monster cards as well as reference sheets and rulebooks all in sheet protectors. What I will bore you with is the solution for the smaller monster cards, special town cards, and character reference cards. These are all in a mini 3-ring binder, all in sheet protectors . Works great. Depending on your mood, you can pull the entire sheet out of the binder or just remove from the protector. The binders are both tossed in a backpack I use just for SOB.
IN GAME FUN
Once we’re playing I leave the map tiles sorter and miniatures boxes off the table. I pull out what we need as we go, and as I stated above the Really Useful Boxes make it easy to see the minis I need rather than spend time digging through trays to find what we need. The card binder allows easy access to monsters in game, I just remove the protector they’re in from the 3-ring and use as needed. Can even make notes on the protector with dry erase as needed.
For the cards, we use two of the Hold-It card organizer through Amazon. One’s enough for a Mines-only run, even if we do sometimes need to dig out an alternative Artifacts deck or Traits deck for a monster we’ve drawn, but they work great and don’t take up too much space. And, like the rest of the collection, they’re very portable. And and…I can use them for other boardgames we play that involve several decks (looking at you Touch of Evil and Eldrich Horror!).
And that is how I store and transport my Shadows of Brimstone collection. It works great, easily packed and unpacked and can be set aside once the needed components are pulled out for the game session.
Tune in next time for an article on my current selection of props we have made to the game so far.
shiny penny musings 