Art De La Guerre

[vexillia]

I'd be interested to hear from players who regularly travel by air to events. Especially tips for packing figures and terrain in carry on baggage. How do you avoid damage to things like spears and lances?

Thanks.
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Martin Stephenson

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[Mike Bennett]

I aim to use carry on, but pack for the hold / worst case just in case. I use a couple of smallish narrow “really useful” boxes. They are 80mm wide, exactly 2ud and take about 2 commands each. This minimises space for figures to move around. Also if I am forced to check my bag in I have a cloth bag with me and can take the 2 figure boxes out, put in the cloth bag under the seat infront of me. My bases have rare earth magnets. Sometimes I add peanut packaging, but very loose as most figures will not move anyway and I do not want to damage spears and lances. The peanuts fit in between the spears.

[vexillia]

Thanks Mike. Just the sort of thing I was looking for.
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Martin Stephenson

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[vexillia]

[Mike Bennett]

I started with metal, but it seems not to stay fixed to the box base no matter how I glue it. Maybe the boxes flex a bit and spring it away? I thought about gluing end pieces to the side walls to hold the metal down, but too much hassle.

In the end I have changed to rubberised, non magnetised ferrous sheet. It looks like the standard magna base and has a metallic content to hold to magnets but is not itself a magnet as magnet to magnet repolarises and/or weakens them over time. I bought a roll of the material from first4magnets; 1x FerroFlex® Ultra 620mm Wide Flexible Ferrous Sheet - Plain (5 Metre Length). Plenty there for storage and transport boxes, more than I expect to use in a lifetime
Magnets via aliexpress from china, 2000 for £35.

I get my bases from Jim at products for wargamers. He supplies with holes for the magnets. Not in his standard set, but I request it each order and he does them, same price. He is really good, when I first asked for the holes he proactively sent me a test piece with a variety around the nominal size so that I could see which gave the best fit

[vexillia]

Follow up:

[1] How many magnets per base?

[2] Which RUB do you use - https://reallyusefulproducts.co.uk/uk/html/boxdetails.php
_________________
Martin Stephenson

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[Mark G Fry]

I buy Warbase 2mm MDF bases and they have a service that will drill 5mm diameter holes in the bases: https://warbases.co.uk/
I have 1 hole for most standard units but 2 for Camp bases.

I then buy First4Magents 5mm by 2mm round super-magnets: https://www.first4magnets.com/
I glue the magnets into the Warbase bases (in the drilled holes) and then base my figures on them.

I prefer magnets as I find that even thin magnetic sheet makes the bases too thick, plus I've found a lot of the self-adhesive magnetic sheets tend to lose their 'stick' after a while and then you have to go through gluing the sheets on - which is a pain.

I then buy a large box of Marks & Spencer Luxury Belgium* Chocolate biscuits, which come in a square metal box with lid (*the box was first acquired, appropriately, for my HYW Burgundian army but now does for all my international excursions).
The box is deep enough to accommodate pikes, elephants, infantry and mounted standard bearers or cavalry lances, with space to spare.
Plus the biscuits are delicious!
Most 15mm armies, even large ones of 30+ elements will fit in, along with ambush markers, a Camp and even dismounts.

Once the army is secure inside, I pad the spaces out with bubble-wrap. Not too tight, so as to avoid damaging the figures, but enough to stop accidental movement in transit.

I wrap a couple of large elastics bands around the box, to keep the lid on tight, and that goes into my hand-luggage suitably cushioned around with items such as rolled socks etc.

So far, fingers crossed, I've managed a fair few international events with no damages.
I occasionally get pulled up going through airport security, and usually get a smile off the security agent when I have to open the box

NB: I have not attempted overseas airtravel with 28mm armies - that might be a whole different challenge
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'He could have lived a risk-free, moneyed life, but he preferred to whittle away his fortune on warfare.' Xenophon, The Anabasis

[Mike Bennett]

[vexillia]

[vexillia]

Follow up for Mike & Mark:

[1] Is the aim to fit your bag under the seat in front of you?
[2] Does your bag ever go in the overhead locker, if so are the bases now perpendicular?
_________________
Martin Stephenson

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[Mike Bennett]

My bag normally has army, terrain, rules plus a few days clothes and fits into the overhead, but you need to be prepared for full flights where you are forced to check in, so I have sn underneath option for the figures

The boxes sit fkat in my bag, aim is never to tip them

[babyshark]

[Mark G Fry]

[Mark G Fry]

[Mark G Fry]

I also have two small clear plastic business-card boxes, that are also magnetized (this time with magnetic sheet super-glued to the bottom) that go into the biscuit tin. Up against one end.

In these I have: some miniature trees on 2pence coins (for Plantations or Forest); some brush markers - appropriately made from ... eh ... bits of floor brush; a 6mm building (for my village) and a few small rocks (stones) on 1p pieces (to represent a gully) and some more 1p pieces with mud & marsh grass - representing Marsh. I also have small resin 6mm allotment pieces from Timecast: http://www.timecastmodels.co.uk/rail_gallery/rail_gallery.html - that allow me to put a Field on a hill (for example).
My impassable terrain, river, road and Coast are all pretty obvious.

Although I use Raffa's (wargames whims) wonderful cloth terrain pieces, these small scenic bits & pieces help me quickly identify terrain types at a glance. I also keep my 3 colour casualty markers (green, yellow, & red plastic counters) in them as well. As most international competitions provide you with dice, the only other thing I put in these boxes are my white blank command PIP dice.

My measuring sticks go in the box with the soldiers, on top of the bubble wrap.

So I have 'travel army' in a box. Pretty much.
_________________
'He could have lived a risk-free, moneyed life, but he preferred to whittle away his fortune on warfare.' Xenophon, The Anabasis