For a very long time I used to store my painted figures in egg cartons like this. They were cheap (well, free) and could accommodate most infantry figures just nicely. I had even managed to find some sturdy cardboard boxes that could neatly take four 15-egg cartons standardizing the storage somewhat.
The rest of the figures like cavalry, monsters, vehicles etc. were stored in random boxes and tray somewhat more haphazardly. This arrangement served me for many years partly because the number of my figures was within reasonable limits (debatable) but mostly because we practically always played at my place and therefore I had no need to transport the figures anywhere.
This changed when I finally joined a gaming club and started gaming at another location. I needed to transport my figures safely. I also picked up painting again at an unprecedented scale, and my figure storage was filling up fast. Something needed to be done.
I scoured the net for options and made a few enquiries. I got some magnetized plastic sheet which should be good since most of my figures are based on metal washers. I lined a couple of old Swedish army ammo boxes with the stuff and filled them with figures...
...which turned out to be nice for storage at home, but the magnet just wasn't strong enough to hold the figures during rougher treatment (like hitting a bump while driving). And since the box is not compartmentalized, once a single figure is loose it will bump against others and work them loose too resulting in a chain reaction.
So I went for the commercial storage options. After some googling I decided to order some samples from Feldherr ( http://www.feldherr.net/uk/ ). There are other options, but Feldherr is close to me and the price seemed to okay (some of the higher priced competitors would result in astronomical costs given the amount of figures I need to store).
I got the medium bag, mostly because the large one wasn't in stock at the moment, and some foam trays. The bag itself is pretty basic but perfectly functional. However, it is not a hard case, so don't try sitting on it or anything stupid like that. They do offer a large hard case too (looks like a toolbox) but I don't have that. The medium bag takes three normal thickness full size trays, which is good for 100-120 or so figures depending on your options.
What I'm really enthused about however are the trays themselves. Feldherr offers a bewildering range of options for trays, including some custom cuts for specific games. Let's try to get a hold on all the options here:
Size: Trays come in full-size and half-size variaties. Some bags can only take the half-size variety and some special cuts (e.g. Flames of War trays) only come in half-size. Apart from the FoW trays I got everything in full-size though I've been thinking about getting a Mini-Plus bag and a couple normal half-size trays for those small skirmish games. Pricewise, full-size trays are more economical.
Depth: Trays come in different depths varying from 5mm (I don't really know what this is for) to 100mm. Typical 28mm infantry figures fit best in 25mm or 30mm depth trays while cavalry works well with 60mm trays (at least as long as they don't have upright lances). I've found 10mm trays to work with microscale figures and smaller 1/3000 ships. As the tray bottoms are separate, you can combine trays to create custom depths if you absolutely need to though usually it's cheaper just to buy the next size.
Cutout style: There's two basic styles, pre-cut and raster. There are different varieties of pre-cut slots, but the basic one is 25x50mm and works both for infantry lying down and cavalry upright given a suitably deep tray. The raster ones come pre-cut with a 14x14mm raster and you're supposed to pull out the bits you don't want creating custom-sized compartments for your figures. This works out relatively nicely, though it is hard to utilize all the space on the tray effectively. Remember that your compartment walls will be a minimum of 14mm thick with raster trays, sometimes it might be better to get regular pre-cut trays and just cut some of the walls off.
Glue: All the trays come without bottoms. Don't forget to order the appropriate amount of bottoms! To attach the bottoms, there's two styles available: the regular plain foam and the slightly more expensive self-adhesive option. While gluing the tray bottoms on with regular white glue is easy enough, I'm mostly lazy and buy the self-adhesive ones. I've found no real diffence in durability. If you do use white glue, let them dry overnight just to be on the safe side.
With such an array of choices, it really pays to plan a little ahead and really think about what kinds of trays your figures need. Here's some things I've personally found.
Flames of War
The range of custom FoW trays is excellent. You basically have one style for small and medium infantry bases, one for large bases and two different sizes for tanks and vehicles. There's a couple of depth options, though the regular 25mm depth works fine for most things. Deeper tray may be needed for really tall flak guns and such.
The infantry trays work brilliantly. You'll probably have more small slots than you need, but you can put counters or such there. The tank trays have slots for the tanks themselves, with a few raster bits to account for different hull sizes, and special slots for turrets. As you can see from the picture, you're supposed to store the turrets separately. This helps keep the tray depth down and consequently fit more of them in a bag.
If you have lots of assault guns or other turretless vehicles, you can cut off the turret slot dividers to create more space.
Very small armored cars and such may fit better in the regular 25x50mm slots, which are also available. I've found that jeeps fit nicely in the basic infantry trays.
28mm infantry
As most of my figures are 28mm infantry figures I'm naturally interested in storing the economically, both in terms of space and money. The two basic tray variants for this are the regular 25x50mm slots (36 figures per full-size tray) and the newer conical cut slots shown in the picture, fitting 45 figures on a tray.
The conical slots work fine for figures with relatively compact poses and weapons, but if you take a closer look at it the real secret is that the three middle rows are slightly shorter allowing for an extra row on the tray. Very tall figures or figures with upright spears and such may not fit well in the conical cut slots. That's why I decided to get an even mix of both types.
Even with the taller regular slots, halberds and such don't always quite fit in the slot. Here the softness of the foam helps, just leave the speartip lying on the divider and the next tray will gently press it into the foam. If you insist on squeezing it in, you may find sharp bits snagging on the foam when you try to get the figure out.
Some figures with very dynamic poses or odd bits hanging out just don't fit in the regular trays. You'll need to get raster trays for these, or maybe cut out some compartment walls. I found my Eldar Swooping Hawks and Warlock to be like this, and put them in a raster tray.
The Verdict
I've found this product excellent in quality and reasonable in price. Getting storage for several hundred if not thousands of figures is going to be something of an investment no matter how you cut it, but investing in Feldherr foam looks like a pretty good choice.
And one final word: Feldherr deliveries have always been prompt and their customer service is excellent. Thumbs up!
maxxon
Sucks!
