For those who were thinking of flying with this case, absolutely do not. The hard side case is not remotely strong enough to handle the rigors of being thrown into baggage. Flying bags have interior metal frames to keep them from crushing what's inside..
Awesome coverage of the cases. Your comment and insight on the the stiffness of the foam is much needed because there is no way to know that by looking at a picture.
I have the Feldherr case and have been using the Feldherr cases for various miniature games for years. They pack well, store well and are durable. I use an old laptop case for the books and sheets and all miniatures, dice, and other items in the Feldherr case. If I am going to carry fewer miniatures, I put my books and other items at the bottom of the Feldherr case and the miniature trays on top.
While you could put a sheet of thin foam on the bottom, that should come standard. I had read about the lack of fit on the larger miniatures. Considering this is a case made by Catalyst for Battletech, you would think that they would actually make the trays fit the miniatures that they produce. You cannot fit a King Crab, Kraken or any of the taller/wider minis in it without modification. BAD MOVE Catalyst. Thanks for showing this, Justin.
It’s definitely good in theory / concept but I think this is another product where they gave a greenlight without actually putting thought into it after the initial product pitch. I imagine had they shown a prototype around to even just their CSO artists they’d have received feedback that could have led to a better product. But as it stands now, I’m not sure they would have listened anyway which is unfortunate.
I'm a big fan of magnetic storage solutions. It lets your minis transition from display to transport and back to display pretty seamlessly, and soft foam still is not as soft as an air gap.
Great video, very informative! I wasn't aware of the Battlefoam bags, they look really cool. I'm using the Feldherr Maxi bag to hold the majority of my models and I've just gotten the Catalyst case as my meetup case and I think it does a great job for that.
If only it could fit more minis of various sizes. As demonstrated in the video, it really struggles to fit any of the larger mechs on the foam spaces provided. Works good for small mechs but once you start looking at bringing heavies and assaults the foam holes really struggle. Better foam inserts would solve a lot of my complaints with the case.
@@Thearmedpainter this shouldn't need to happen, but I would be really happy if Feldher made an aftermarket insert set for the case. The foam is so easy to pull off it could easily be swapped luckily.
There's a couple guys in my group that use these. They put the books, mechs and gear they need for the current game/tourney in it and carry it all in the one bag. They use a different solution at home for storage for their collections.
I have the Feldherr case, and I love it. I can see the Catalyst one being good for a quick trip to the LGS, but is absolutely too small for home storage or bigger trips/tourneys
No thanks. I have metal models and typically spend somewhere in the teens of hours per mech I paint. This has It’s place but I wouldn’t recommend it as a primary storage / transportation solution for anything you aren’t willing to have damaged. For basic table top stuff it’ll likely work well enough but I’m not risking anything I’ve put serious effort into on magnets personally.
Its a nice case holding everything you need for a game. Plenty of storage for dice and books and enough minis if you know what you are going to play. Also is cool you can put your patches on it. My only complaint is cost. I used amazon gift cards to get mine. I paid less for my Feldherr maxi case and it hold a lot more mini's
I’ve been told it won’t hold the paper maps. It also won’t hold most minis either as they are too big in one of the various dimensions to fit in the foam properly.
@@Thearmedpainter It will hold most average minis. Its some of the larger assaults or wide birth heavies it has issues with. Like it won't hold my clan buster black knight or stuff like my Celestials or Tenshi, Atlas III, Devastators or Night Stars. Stuff like lets say my Merc company which is mostly lights, mediums with a mixed assault, heavy command lance it holds just fine. Marauder have to put on its back to fit but it can do that. Maps I wouldn't put them in with the books, but in a pinch it will hold them in the pouches (at this point I generally use neoprene anyways). By no means is it a perfect case, but I don't regret buying it. Has reduces my travel footprint quite a bit.
The lack of a foam base to the miniature cells on the BattleTech Transport Case makes it inadequate for the task in hand. You are far better off buying a hardshell camera case with pluck foam or looking at KR Mulitcase / Feldherr etc. if you want your carefully painted miniatures to remain un-chipped. Thanks for the review.
It's my first time trying a carrying case, before hand I used jewelry boxes and battletech boxes. I love it being both the carrier for my miniatures and various things I need for play. I haven't had any issue fitting record sheets and the clip board into the box but that might be because I have a pencil box in the compartment holding it up. I haven't had any issue with it's mini capacity, but I really only use it for Battletech and Frosgrave so I play games with low mini requirements. I got it for Bobby's price of $75 at Southern Assault and I am really happy with it. c:
I picked the BattleTech case just before Christmas, and the advantage is absolutely the non-mini storage. My carry to a regular meetup was a rulebook, one of the small, hard Feldherr cases, a Beginner box full of mapsheets, a dice bag, and a plastic folder with record sheets and reference cards. Everything except the box of mapsheets fits into this bag, so it's a lot easier to pickup and go. And there's enough room in the middle of the bag for the plastic folder, and I've got an initiative deck and the 40th anniversary dice box sitting in the little net holders on top of the foam compartments, no problems closing up the case at all. I agree the foam could be better, and I might see about swapping it out for something better in the future. I've had no problems fitting most of the minis in my regular force lists into the foam, but I'm not bringing too many really big guys. A Kingfisher fits snugly into the bays as they stand.
Makes me grateful for the old Citadel hard cases, I've got 3 layers of 5x8 semi-flexible foam for minis, and 2 boxes. It holds almost all of my collection, but I also have the Mercenaries set coming soon o.o
When I first saw the official BT bag I knew I didnt want it exactly for the reasons you described. I have a battlefoam bag for my Star Wars Legion (using pluck foam), and I got a Feldherr (maxi) bag for my Star Trek Attackwing/Alliance and X-wing minis. You are 100% spot on that the Feldherr bag is a soft case. It certainly meets my needs though. So much so I decided to get the medium bag for Battletech. You kinda hit on this, but Feldheer has specific foam just for BT that is pre made. Or (again as you suggested) you can get the pluck foam and customize it for the model you are going to transport. You do a great job in these vids, please keep it up! Something to think about, what are your thoughts on getting some specifically cut plasti-board or something similar to put on all 6 six sides of the Feldherr case? There is a bit of room that you could fit a the sheets in there AND it would give some decent rigidity/protection.
@@Thearmedpainter That is a VERY good point. Wouldn't have to be too thick either, but getting the dimensions right to fit in the case and still have the foam fit...that would be the most difficult part.
Got one myself and was disappointed I couldn't fit all my mechs in the foam area. Did however put all my faction dice from the Merc Kickstarter in them instead and pretty much filled 75% of it. I carry my mechs in a magnetized case instead.
I haven't seen it, but I wonder how well that CGL case would handle storing their new Grinder Kit they're selling to LFGS only. They were developed at the same time, it wouldn't surpise me if one influenced the other.
Considering that grinder kit is not available (and won’t be available) to standard consumers I wouldn’t imagine they’d design a case for a product that cannot be bought by the masses.
@@Thearmedpainter yeah, I didn't think it was intentional, but just something unconscious. I like the product, but I wish it just fit mechs and fit all the CFL mechs well, not just some of them. It felt like a big miss to not test some of the bigger and very popular minis with the product. Then I started thinking about reasons why. I'm probably looking at it a little too hard.
I'd rather spend my money on the Feldhaur cases. I have 2. Also have 2 Battle foams left over from Flames of War Days (Well, 1 really as 1 has FoW in it still)
I'm new to the TableTop side of Battletech, but had that Battlefoam case (mine's a 720, I think) from when I played Warmachine, however I used the 20% off coupon out of the AGoAC box and got the hard case due to it being smaller, and just easier to pick up and go. I liked that it was much smaller that the others (and solid), but it does the job for someone new that doesn't have a lot of mini's (yet).
The Battlefoam cases are pricey but they're very good quality, I have multiple cases from them that are over a decade old and are still holding up so they're a good long term investment.
I will not be carrying minis in mine, only books and tokens. There are much better options for minis at similar and better price points. Justin covers a lot of my concerns with the case and how it was not designed for functional miniature transport. Pull the foam out and use it for additional storage compartments for game aids.
At $100 you could definitely get a better or comparable storage solution for books and dice and likely save money too. Considering yours was from NOVA it makes a little more sense though. If they offer some drop in foam options to let you customize them a bit more in the future it would help with the product’s feasibility quite a bit.
Cases for both budget-minded and pro-wargamer level players. Nice. I'm cheap. So dollar store bit storage trays (holds about 24) and mini plastic holders cut from the original box plastic trays for me.
I know Feldherr has a good name with BattleTech people.. but I just got my first Feldherr last week, and as someone who is used to packing soft and hard cases and with everything from rifles to commo equipment to nods' to my wifes insane essential oil travel kit to the kids drone and sig-int equipment, I was very disappointed in the build quality of Feldherr. The fact right off the bat that there are no vertical seams or supports in the corners of the case, making it floppy and making putting the trays in without an extra hand... well a pain lets say... no brainer fail. Also, the fact that the trays themselves are so floppy... like it would cost 3 cents to make half the base slab a thicker firmer foam to support the tray, another no brainer fail. I guess people must find something about them appealing, but for a company with a track record it was just disappointing to see a case that seemed like a stage one proof of concept prototype and not a developed debugged product. Gave it to my 7 year old for his mechs and ordered something else.
For those who were thinking of flying with this case, absolutely do not. The hard side case is not remotely strong enough to handle the rigors of being thrown into baggage. Flying bags have interior metal frames to keep them from crushing what's inside..
I’d only fly with it if it was part of my carry on. Definitely wouldn’t have it as checked luggage.
Awesome coverage of the cases. Your comment and insight on the the stiffness of the foam is much needed because there is no way to know that by looking at a picture.
I have the Feldherr case and have been using the Feldherr cases for various miniature games for years. They pack well, store well and are durable. I use an old laptop case for the books and sheets and all miniatures, dice, and other items in the Feldherr case. If I am going to carry fewer miniatures, I put my books and other items at the bottom of the Feldherr case and the miniature trays on top.
While you could put a sheet of thin foam on the bottom, that should come standard. I had read about the lack of fit on the larger miniatures. Considering this is a case made by Catalyst for Battletech, you would think that they would actually make the trays fit the miniatures that they produce. You cannot fit a King Crab, Kraken or any of the taller/wider minis in it without modification. BAD MOVE Catalyst. Thanks for showing this, Justin.
It’s definitely good in theory / concept but I think this is another product where they gave a greenlight without actually putting thought into it after the initial product pitch. I imagine had they shown a prototype around to even just their CSO artists they’d have received feedback that could have led to a better product. But as it stands now, I’m not sure they would have listened anyway which is unfortunate.
@@Thearmedpainter Yea.. I lost faith in catalyst ability to make comprehensible decisions when I saw them repping the rainbow mafia.
I'm a big fan of magnetic storage solutions. It lets your minis transition from display to transport and back to display pretty seamlessly, and soft foam still is not as soft as an air gap.
Great video, very informative! I wasn't aware of the Battlefoam bags, they look really cool. I'm using the Feldherr Maxi bag to hold the majority of my models and I've just gotten the Catalyst case as my meetup case and I think it does a great job for that.
I was quite surprised with how nice the offical case actually is. It's well designed for carrying everything you need for a couple games.
If only it could fit more minis of various sizes. As demonstrated in the video, it really struggles to fit any of the larger mechs on the foam spaces provided. Works good for small mechs but once you start looking at bringing heavies and assaults the foam holes really struggle. Better foam inserts would solve a lot of my complaints with the case.
@@Thearmedpainter this shouldn't need to happen, but I would be really happy if Feldher made an aftermarket insert set for the case. The foam is so easy to pull off it could easily be swapped luckily.
I was checking this out at my LGS. Seemed pretty cool.
There's a couple guys in my group that use these. They put the books, mechs and gear they need for the current game/tourney in it and carry it all in the one bag. They use a different solution at home for storage for their collections.
4:00 I find the book compartment is just a tad too small for my books. It'll fray the edges over time. I wish it was about 1/16th of an inch wider.
Oof :/
I have the Feldherr case, and I love it. I can see the Catalyst one being good for a quick trip to the LGS, but is absolutely too small for home storage or bigger trips/tourneys
Considering that I have magnets on all minis I'd rather have a metal plate in there with a hex-shaped grid for the bases to fit into.
Magnets and Really Useful Cases. Done.
No thanks. I have metal models and typically spend somewhere in the teens of hours per mech I paint. This has It’s place but I wouldn’t recommend it as a primary storage / transportation solution for anything you aren’t willing to have damaged. For basic table top stuff it’ll likely work well enough but I’m not risking anything I’ve put serious effort into on magnets personally.
Its a nice case holding everything you need for a game. Plenty of storage for dice and books and enough minis if you know what you are going to play. Also is cool you can put your patches on it. My only complaint is cost. I used amazon gift cards to get mine. I paid less for my Feldherr maxi case and it hold a lot more mini's
I’ve been told it won’t hold the paper maps. It also won’t hold most minis either as they are too big in one of the various dimensions to fit in the foam properly.
@@Thearmedpainter It will hold most average minis. Its some of the larger assaults or wide birth heavies it has issues with. Like it won't hold my clan buster black knight or stuff like my Celestials or Tenshi, Atlas III, Devastators or Night Stars. Stuff like lets say my Merc company which is mostly lights, mediums with a mixed assault, heavy command lance it holds just fine. Marauder have to put on its back to fit but it can do that. Maps I wouldn't put them in with the books, but in a pinch it will hold them in the pouches (at this point I generally use neoprene anyways). By no means is it a perfect case, but I don't regret buying it. Has reduces my travel footprint quite a bit.
Highlander... there can be only one! 😁
Thanks for the review. I saw this at PAX and was wondering what the inside looked like.
The lack of a foam base to the miniature cells on the BattleTech Transport Case makes it inadequate for the task in hand. You are far better off buying a hardshell camera case with pluck foam or looking at KR Mulitcase / Feldherr etc. if you want your carefully painted miniatures to remain un-chipped.
Thanks for the review.
It's my first time trying a carrying case, before hand I used jewelry boxes and battletech boxes. I love it being both the carrier for my miniatures and various things I need for play. I haven't had any issue fitting record sheets and the clip board into the box but that might be because I have a pencil box in the compartment holding it up.
I haven't had any issue with it's mini capacity, but I really only use it for Battletech and Frosgrave so I play games with low mini requirements. I got it for Bobby's price of $75 at Southern Assault and I am really happy with it. c:
I picked the BattleTech case just before Christmas, and the advantage is absolutely the non-mini storage. My carry to a regular meetup was a rulebook, one of the small, hard Feldherr cases, a Beginner box full of mapsheets, a dice bag, and a plastic folder with record sheets and reference cards. Everything except the box of mapsheets fits into this bag, so it's a lot easier to pickup and go. And there's enough room in the middle of the bag for the plastic folder, and I've got an initiative deck and the 40th anniversary dice box sitting in the little net holders on top of the foam compartments, no problems closing up the case at all. I agree the foam could be better, and I might see about swapping it out for something better in the future. I've had no problems fitting most of the minis in my regular force lists into the foam, but I'm not bringing too many really big guys. A Kingfisher fits snugly into the bays as they stand.
Makes me grateful for the old Citadel hard cases, I've got 3 layers of 5x8 semi-flexible foam for minis, and 2 boxes.
It holds almost all of my collection, but I also have the Mercenaries set coming soon o.o
What's that mat you have on the table from?
I think it’s Urban Zone from Table War.
I do like hard sided cases better in general. I'd not but it in checked luggage on a airplane. I'd only do carry on.
When I first saw the official BT bag I knew I didnt want it exactly for the reasons you described. I have a battlefoam bag for my Star Wars Legion (using pluck foam), and I got a Feldherr (maxi) bag for my Star Trek Attackwing/Alliance and X-wing minis. You are 100% spot on that the Feldherr bag is a soft case. It certainly meets my needs though. So much so I decided to get the medium bag for Battletech. You kinda hit on this, but Feldheer has specific foam just for BT that is pre made. Or (again as you suggested) you can get the pluck foam and customize it for the model you are going to transport. You do a great job in these vids, please keep it up! Something to think about, what are your thoughts on getting some specifically cut plasti-board or something similar to put on all 6 six sides of the Feldherr case? There is a bit of room that you could fit a the sheets in there AND it would give some decent rigidity/protection.
If I was going to go through that effort to harden the Feldher I’d probably look at 3d print options to make a shell to put inside it :)
@@Thearmedpainter That is a VERY good point. Wouldn't have to be too thick either, but getting the dimensions right to fit in the case and still have the foam fit...that would be the most difficult part.
I looked at it at PAX. It was almost good. It really just seems like a prototype for a 2.0 if they ever come out with one. Lessons learned.
Thats exatly how i feel about feldherr cases, theyre stage one proof of concept prototypes that never actually made it to a true final product.
Got one myself and was disappointed I couldn't fit all my mechs in the foam area. Did however put all my faction dice from the Merc Kickstarter in them instead and pretty much filled 75% of it. I carry my mechs in a magnetized case instead.
I haven't seen it, but I wonder how well that CGL case would handle storing their new Grinder Kit they're selling to LFGS only. They were developed at the same time, it wouldn't surpise me if one influenced the other.
Considering that grinder kit is not available (and won’t be available) to standard consumers I wouldn’t imagine they’d design a case for a product that cannot be bought by the masses.
@@Thearmedpainter yeah, I didn't think it was intentional, but just something unconscious. I like the product, but I wish it just fit mechs and fit all the CFL mechs well, not just some of them. It felt like a big miss to not test some of the bigger and very popular minis with the product. Then I started thinking about reasons why.
I'm probably looking at it a little too hard.
I'd rather spend my money on the Feldhaur cases. I have 2. Also have 2 Battle foams left over from Flames of War Days (Well, 1 really as 1 has FoW in it still)
I just bought the Warganizer STL's with the Battletech tray series. I will let y'all know how that goes.
Those are some nice carriers. 👍
I'm new to the TableTop side of Battletech, but had that Battlefoam case (mine's a 720, I think) from when I played Warmachine, however I used the 20% off coupon out of the AGoAC box and got the hard case due to it being smaller, and just easier to pick up and go. I liked that it was much smaller that the others (and solid), but it does the job for someone new that doesn't have a lot of mini's (yet).
The Battlefoam cases are pricey but they're very good quality, I have multiple cases from them that are over a decade old and are still holding up so they're a good long term investment.
I will not be carrying minis in mine, only books and tokens. There are much better options for minis at similar and better price points. Justin covers a lot of my concerns with the case and how it was not designed for functional miniature transport. Pull the foam out and use it for additional storage compartments for game aids.
At $100 you could definitely get a better or comparable storage solution for books and dice and likely save money too. Considering yours was from NOVA it makes a little more sense though. If they offer some drop in foam options to let you customize them a bit more in the future it would help with the product’s feasibility quite a bit.
@Thearmedpainter I do wonder if anyone of the battlefoam inserts would fit...
Books and print outs on standard paper fit in the book area nicely…..paper map sheets don’t unfortunately….I have had mine since launch and I love it.
Cases for both budget-minded and pro-wargamer level players. Nice.
I'm cheap. So dollar store bit storage trays (holds about 24) and mini plastic holders cut from the original box plastic trays for me.
I know Feldherr has a good name with BattleTech people.. but I just got my first Feldherr last week, and as someone who is used to packing soft and hard cases and with everything from rifles to commo equipment to nods' to my wifes insane essential oil travel kit to the kids drone and sig-int equipment, I was very disappointed in the build quality of Feldherr. The fact right off the bat that there are no vertical seams or supports in the corners of the case, making it floppy and making putting the trays in without an extra hand... well a pain lets say... no brainer fail. Also, the fact that the trays themselves are so floppy... like it would cost 3 cents to make half the base slab a thicker firmer foam to support the tray, another no brainer fail. I guess people must find something about them appealing, but for a company with a track record it was just disappointing to see a case that seemed like a stage one proof of concept prototype and not a developed debugged product.
Gave it to my 7 year old for his mechs and ordered something else.
Meh, Amazon has a better solution.