The moment your army progresses past perhaps a squad, the question of how exactly to transport that army becomes rather vexing. There are myriad options on the market, and I’ve sampled many of them. But with a new army (and one that is vehicle heavy, which rather complicates my infantry-focused carrying solutions to date), I’ve decided to try a case I’ve heard a lot about: the KR multicase system.
Never one for doing things halfway – and because their pricing structure rather promotes large single orders rather than doing things over time as needs come up – I ordered enough foam and card cases to hold ~ 2500 points of Eldar corsairs, plus a Kaiser4 case to carry them in.
Customer Service:
First off, the customer service I received from KR was outstanding. While it got off to something of a rocky start as I emailed them while they were apparently away for a bit, after that they were extremely helpful in helping me design my order, walking me through several options, answering questions, and providing advice on several custom converted miniatures that might not easily fit in cookie-cutter cases.
I did have some trouble with their web-based tools, which necessitated emailing the folks at KR in the first place, but they looked promising as well, and from testing the application tonight, it appears to be working in good order now.
The Foam and Card Cases:
The foam itself is a decent foam, which now comes in a number of colors, though I was happy enough with the “KR Blue” foam. It’s soft, not as scratchy as the foam from my Games Workshop cases, and I suspect it will be gentle on both miniatures and their paint jobs. It also cuts easily, which will become relevant in a bit.
Similarly, the cases are well constructed, made out of a thick card that holds up fairly well to abuse. Two of the bare card cases got carried to an all-day tournament at the local store, and made it back without complaint, despite some…unintentional testing…of their durability. There are ample videos online of the card cases being put through some abuse. Generally speaking, it’s be best foam I’ve seen in a case, and the card cases keep everything nicely immobilized and snug, which in my experience is the most important thing. No matter how good your foam is, movement is the death of miniatures.
The card cases also provide a decent storage solution. It’s always been an annoyance of mine that miniature storage and miniature transport are the same – I only need to carry one army at a time, yet to store them, I need multiple carrying cases, and the corresponding space. For someone who lives in a small apartment, that’s rather annoying. The card cases are easy to label, easy to stack and store, and slot neatly into a case that lets them be easily transported. The modular system is, to me, the KR system’s greatest appeal.
I have however had some difficulty with specific custom-cut trays. Two in particular – the Crimson Hunter/Hemlock Wrathfighter tray with room for the flying stand, and the tray for a Falcon/Fire Prism.
The first has a cutout for the fighter, which works perfectly, even nestling the nose upright. The cutout for the flying base on the other hand is a little unclear – there’s no clear way to fit the flying base in it, without extensive surgery. Less work than many types of foam, where you have to pick out little squares of foam, but it might be worth revisiting this template.
Before:
After:
The Fire Prism tray is more problematic. Most of the trays specify that the turret will be off, so I ordered the deeper tray that did not suggest this. And for a Falcon, and probably a Night Spinner or the old-style Fire Prism, this will work fine. The new Fire Prism however, does not have room – and again, required some cutting into another tray in order to make room.
Falcon-style Chassis:
With the Fire Prism Turret:
There is another tray that clearly has clear space for a Fire Prism’s turret, but the lack of labeling of the one tray is slightly irksome.
On the other hand, a custom cut tray for an Eldar superheavy tank to ride in is a thing of joy.
Kaiser4:
The Kaiser4 case is…how do I put this? It’s massive. On the other hand, I’m nigh positive anything that allows you to carry 2500 points of a tank-heavy army will be massive. It’s sturdily built, with plenty of exterior storage for books, a tablet, templates, dice, etc. While it’s a soft case, the interior structure from the card cases protects the miniatures themselves. And while large, I haven’t found it more awkward to walk with than cases with much smaller capacity, and vastly more comfortable to walk with than a pick-n-mix assortment of smaller cases. The modular system shines here as well – a smaller bag holding one or two trays for smaller tournaments, casual pickup games etc. can be had for about $100 less than the comparable case filled with card cases and foam. Or failing that, the card cases themselves come with handles, and as mentioned, were more than adequate for a small tournament.
Overall Score:
I’d give the KR cases and trays an 8.5/10. The foam and cases are excellently made, and for the most part, excellently fitted. There are however, some slightly flawed design choices in some of the custom trays that could stand revisiting.