Council of Elrond

What are you all doing for storage and organization?

I've been trying to come up with a good storage solution for a while. I have tried binders, which works the best for browsing through cards. But you can really only fit 3 copies of a particular card in a binder slot. And I find that it's very cumbersome to put the cards back into their spots. The binders can fill up pretty quickly.

From there I just began throwing cards into BCW cardboard boxes by expansion/set. But then I realized that it makes much more sense to sort by card type (site, characters, hazards, etc). Still, I ended up with a ton of boxes to dig through each time I needed a card. Then I started using the Gift Set box for my "favorite" cards that were used most often in my decks and leaving the rest in the BCW boxes. This has worked out pretty well as it requires less digging. But it can still take a while to find the cards I need.

Recently I picked up an "artist supply case" from Hobby Lobby ($20 on sale) and an organizer for that particular case from The Broken Token (SKU:ORG011, $29 + $18 for lots of extra dividers). The organizer is pretty expensive but I think it's going to work out well because of its huge capacity (something like 3,000 cards). It is made of laser cut birch and you slot it up yourself. Which is kind of fun but also tedious. I have the organizer/cards in the vertical orientation so that I can pack more in, but you can also get a different organizer for a horizontal orientation. One drawback is that the cards at the front can potentially get caught on the lid while closing the case. So I moved the tuck-boxes to the front row for now to prevent damage. One day I will actually pick out sets of cards and sort them by type and then alphabetically. The latches and handle seem like they will hold up to carrying the heavy weight of the cards, but I don't trust it yet. I just store it flat and have only carried it around the house.

I just use the BCW shoe boxes and super shoe boxes for my loose cards, sorting in the order given in the (semi-?) official card lists. This does have the unfortunate side effect of the Wizards set only being categorized by characters, resources, hazards, and sites (while the other sets are broken down further), but it's worked pretty well for me. Funny thing is, most of my collection is in built decks (22 challenge decks, both official Balrog decks, probably a dozen solo decks, and two Arda cubes), so it all kind of organizes itself that way.

When using a binder, did you put cards facing both ways in the sheet, or just one way? If you don't mind damaging your card sheets by overstretching them, you can probably fit 5-10 cards facing one way - as long as you're careful with the binders so the cards don't all slip out when you tip them. That's what I used to do with my CCGs, and that's how I store my Dominion expansions (10 cards to a slot) now.

Of course, my "show" collection is all double-sleeved in side-loading pages in zipper binders, but that's meant to be a permanent way of storing and displaying them, so there's no need for the single cards to be especially accessible.

I had my cards in the starter cardboard boxes, inside BCW cardboard boxes, inside of a larger cardboard box. And that works OK. But I have been looking for a better solution since I had picked up another large collection with many many extra cards. I have also been working to organize my cards since before August and I'm still not completely there.

I am now using an IKEA "Helmer" cabinet. It has 6 drawers that each fit 2 BCW 800-Count Boxes without lids. I think that the boxes can be bought with separate lids but I just trimmed off the folding part. I used the cut portion as a buffer to fill out the drawers (see left and right sides). I did not setup the drawer stop/catch so that the drawers can be pulled completely out and set on top.



I have decided to have 2 separate sets: the wooden box (above) contains cards for review and deck-building while the cabinet holds all the extras. The cabinet is not organized by set/expansion or broken down much. It is just sorted alphabetically by Border Color (Hero, Stage, Minion, and Hazard) and broad Category (Character, Site, Non-event, and Event). The wooden box has 2-4 copies of most cards, with extras of my favorites, and is organized by border color and then by character (by MP, then A-Z), Sites (A-Z), Factions (A-Z), Allies (A-Z), MP Items and Events and Hoard Minor Items (type then A-Z), Starting Minor Items (A-Z), Events (A-Z).

The organization is not complete yet. One day.

I also use these drawers for cards. I designed cardboard inserts to arrange them in three columns of vertical cards instead of two columns of horizontal cards, as well as keeping the cards in from the front overhang. It has worked great for me, although the vertical columns definitely approaches the weight capacity of the drawers. The BCW boxes seem like an easier if pricier way to put these drawers to good use.

Sounds like a great setup. Are your vertical cards sleeved or unsleeved? How many rows do you have filled with Northern Rhovanion? I got half a drawer at least.

By the way, I picked up the BCW-800 boxes for $1.80 each in a 10 pack. The BCW boxes have enough space in the front to avoid the overhanging metal of the drawer.

These Helmer cabinets are great for a lot of other hobbies/crafts too. My sister has 2 of them full of nail polish.

I've been perusing Craigslist for a used/retied library card-catalog cabinet off and on here, but they're hard to find in good condition for cheap. I mostly want something that doesn't require me to be hunched over a low file cabinet searching for cards. I do most of my deck-building in LackeyCCG so I only go hunting for cards after I've put together my decklist.

I'm around 15k-20k cards of MECCG and about the same quantity of MTG and having stacks of BCW 5000 boxes filling a closet isn't ideal.

For sorting - I separate cards by alignment and then card type, and finally alphabetical order of each type.

5k box 1 - Heroes
Avatars
Characters
Sites
Minor Items
Major Items
Greater Items
Special Items
Gold Ring Items
Allies
Factions
Short Events
Long Events
Permanent Events

5k box 2 - Minions + Fallen Wizards
Avatars
Characters
Agent Characters
Minion Sites
Balrog Sites
FW Sites
Minor Items
Major Items
Greater Items
Special Items
Gold Ring Items
Allies
Factions
Short Events
Long Events
Permanent Events
Balrog-only Resources (all types)
FW-specific Stage Resources
General Stage Resources

5k box 3 - Hazards
Hazard Creatures by type:
Animals
Awakened Plant
etc.
Dragons/Nazgul/Spawn that are Creatures and/or Permanent Events all go in the creature catagories
Corruption Hazards
Environment Hazards
Fallen Wizard specific Hazards
Agent Hazards (Lobelia and My Precious, all other agents are included in Minion box since they double as characters)
Short Events
Long Events
Permanent Events

5k box 4 - Scenario sites, Dream Cards, Foreign language cards
Sorted in a similar way as above, but with categories for dual-alignment events, grey agents, etc.

BCW 800 box - Regions (meh)

I've also got a shelving unit full of Books/Display boxes/Promo materials in my office and a large roll of laminated oversized MERP and MECCG maps. I'll have to post that collection sometime here.

Game days (transporting cards) -
- Home Depot small parts storage case containing 5-6 decks/figures/dice tower
- Plano 1100 storage case with complete set of Hero/Minion/FW/Balrog sites and dice
- Rule binders with URD, CRF, and full page copies of all rules inserts
- Laptop for quick reference
- Maps
- Beer?

Cool stuff, and it's always fun to ogle nice collections! (Looking at your display shelves, Moriquendi ).

Great ideas here, though for myself I still need to come up with a better solution that works for a small house with cats, young children, and a spouse who does not prioritize game space to the same level that I do. Currently, I have sacrificed most of my closet to stacks of tightly-sealing plastic boxes in which I place binders or BCW boxes. I don't like the binder solution, as they don't fit great in the boxes I have, and there's too much long-term risk to the cards -- I've recently acquired a ringless binder that lays much flatter and seems far more secure, however, so that may be the direction I go in the future (though they're $20 a pop ). Also, I have another large plastic box in the garage in which I store all my C/U/F playsets, which is extremely inaccessible, so not terribly helpful. However, I simply don't have room in the house for them .

Updated pics of current transport & storage mentioned above.

Two-row box - Arda
Single-row box - Regions...
Compact maps for gaming at other's homes

Full size maps, usually leave these at home now.

Couple more not shown, but you get the idea

Wow!! What a great collection and setup. I like all the maps, MERP maps and custom.

And that dice tower looks sweet. Where is that from? Do you actually use it in games or is it just for fun? I'd like to get a collapsible or laser-cut wood tower but I already feel short on table space when playing Middle Earth.

Meanwhile...

https://www.amazon.com/FoxTower-Standar ... 957&sr=8-9

I cut out the I.C.E. Lidless Eye off the back of a card and glued it over the shield so it looks like Barad-Dur. Its 3 pieces so it breaks down into the box quite compact. I do use it during games, it'll fit even my large 22mm Balrog dice down the stairs.

Moriquendi wrote: ↑Wed Jan 08, 2020 3:29 pm https://www.amazon.com/FoxTower-Standar ... 957&sr=8-9

I like how they use a banana for size comparison in the product photo.

Sweet tower. Thanks for sharing the link. It is available on eBay but not Amazon anymore.

Here is some picts of my storage solutions (in case you were wondering where all the dual deck boxes went online):

Deck Displays (found a really perfect shoe rack):



Light Table (for using different maps, w/minis):



Don't quite have the MECCG "Glorious" Display Setup like this post tho!

Almost forgot, the silliest accomplishment of mine (3 of each pair except, the Red/Whites):
(finally got the other 2 alternate side versions of each)



Laters...