Storage Solutions: Catastrophic

More storage solutions for the hub! I am glad to feature a new article today where community member Catastrophic shares his solutions with you. Feel free to leave any comments on the forum post. There you can also read how to send your solutions to me to have them featured on the blog as well!

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This is a relatively inexpensive storage solution that utilizes inserts with 3 Core Sets for the Encounter Cards and 5 nine pocket binders for the player cards. My collection includes all Player and Encounter cards up through Mount Gundabad (April 2019 release) including 3 Core Sets, all POD and a handful of Nightmare scenarios. Overall I will go over: Encounter storage, Player Card storage, rulesheets, playmats and tokens, leftover boxes, and traveling with ease.

Encounter Storage

I do not sleeve my Encounter cards and utilize my 3 Core Set boxes. 2 Cores are standard large size while the last is the smaller current Core set box. My first insert was custom made and does not fit sleeved cards while the other two do support sleeved cards and are from the Broken Token.

The small Core Box from Broken Token (sleeved cards fit) holds the most recent 3 cycles and comfortably holds all those Encounter cards. Because they are the most recent cycles this box is most often used and Nightmare cards aren’t usually out yet so it’s just the right amount of space.

The next regular sized Core is also from Broken Token (sleeved cards fit) is mostly full and has 3 full cycles, Core cycle which includes Shadows of Mirkwood and both Hobbit Sagas. There are also 8 various Nightmare decks that fit in this box with space to add several more.

The last Core was custom made (does NOT fit sleeved cards) and isn’t very full. I have all the POD’s, only one full cycle and some card sleeves in it. Note that the entire Lord of the Rings 6 box Sagas are still in their original boxes as I am wanting to find a unique way to store them together. They would however fit in this Core box and almost fill it up.

Strengths: this storage is currently great as it utilizes your Core boxes and fits the entire game besides most nightmare scenarios. It is also compact and you can easily access one third of all Scenarios per box.

Weaknesses: you need the Core boxes and this will be outgrown in the near future. Having so many cards in a single box can feel heavy and unwieldy. If you sleeve all your Encounter cards they take up that much more space and I don’t think this solution would be the best for a full sleeved card pool, especially with Nightmare added.

Player Card Storage

I sleeve all my Player cards in Mayday Games Almost-a-Penny card sleeves. If you use these or other slim cheesy sleeves all three copies of a sleeved card fit into the 9 pocket side loader binders by UltraPro. Of course if your cards are unsleeved they will also fit.

I have colors for each sphere organized by Events, Attachments and Allies and then sorted by release date. One black binder holds all Heroes, Neutral, Fellowship and Side Quest cards. Each binder is only half way full so the game could double its current size! Perfect long term solution for Player Cards! Also looks amazing having the cards and art displayed in a binder.

About once a year I disassemble all my decks put all cards into the binder and take some pictures of the newest pages to add to a photo album so I can flip through electronically to see all cards in the game. That is my favorite way to look at all the Player Cards.

Accessibility: it is a little tight pulling cards out of the pockets but they slide in easy. I have around 5 decks built at a time and first build them on RingsDB so I can then go to the binders and pull out exactly what cards I need and with this the cards seem accessible and easy enough to play with.

Rulesheets

I keep all of these in a 2.5 inch binder and the Deluxe inserts fit in a tabbed pocket page. It looks great for art and can read as a story book for the later and recent quests. This size binder can easily hold twice as much as all the current rulesheets.

Playmats and Tokens

I have close to a dozen playmats and most happen to fit in the box from the Limited Collector’s Edition. Otherwise I just had them all rolled up in a giant role besides the couple on my table. Most of my tokens are in a Token Box including some tokens From Team Covenant and some tokens are in another small travel box.

Leftover Boxes

Of Course I use all my Core boxes while my Deluxe boxes are empty on the shelf for display. The 6 LOTR Saga’s however do still have their Encounters cards. The first 4 cycles of AP’s are also empty but still on a shelf. See the thumbnail of this article for a complete picture of the shelf.

Traveling with Ease

Going to conventions and events to play this LCG it is very important to have a simple system to maximize your gaming time. Don’t bring all or most of your cards. Build a couple decks in advance with a small sideboard each and put them in deck boxes. Bring a couple favorite encounter sets and that’s it for cards! Have a small token box, a bag for Threat Trackers and some dice. The dice or extra Threat Trackers are clutch for keeping track of willpower between players and prevents you from recounting and doing extra unnecessary math. Throw a playmat in a tube and you’re all set!