Welcome back Survivors!
Today we are going to talk about what we all run into with a collecting or LCG card game. That, of course, is organizing your cards. This is the most work when it comes to an LCG. You have to be able to grab your cards quickly when it comes to building decks or even upgrading your deck between scenarios. Then we are only talking about the player cards. You also have your weakness cards and your encounter sets that you want to store neatly. So there is a lot to consider when it comes to card games. In the previous blog we talked about making your card game standard like standard decks and making sure your scenario is ready the day before, when you start your play session. Our tip is that you invest a little to organise your card collection and you must begin right away. With the Lord of the Rings LCG we started way to late with this neatly organised strategy we build. So we needed a full weekend to redo everything. So when we started with Arkham Horror we started from day one and we are proud!
You can read further to learn what we use and our tips about organise your stuff. Also the accessories we use while playing the game.
Little side note: we are not professional photographers so spare us the harsh comments haha.
Player cards
So lets have a look at what we did from day 1. We organised are player cards like mad scientist. We organised these cards in simple maps, we bought real cheap like €3,50 each. In each map we use Ultra Pro card pages. These are also cheap and comes with probably room for 1800 cards (so we needed to buy 2 of them, for Arkham and lord of the rings). We now know that there are different grades so you can buy expensive ones with suites better. But we are happy with the Ultra Pro's.
We divided the card in the different classes. From there an out we organise them in the cost. From low to high. You could do it more divided like asset/event/skill but there is no need to do that. When you are building a deck we trying to keep the cost in balance and we read all the cards over and over again. We separate the upgrade cards from the normal cards and to the same thing. From low cost to high cost and we do not look at the dots. You probably can fix this yourself, we think its a better way but we use a lot of arkhamDB so we think this will work for us.
investigators + Investigator player cards
We use the same maps and card pages to manage the Investigators. We put them by class and that's it. We put a side the special card and its weakness. This will make things a lot easier when bringing new players to the horror world of Arkham. We can show them the investigator and his special ability cards. So they know what to expect. This comes in handy even for the hardcore players because now there are so many investigators. For the investigator cards we use special small sleeves. These sleeves are from better quality because you will flip them a lot in your Arkham adventures.
standard decks and deck boxes
In our line off work we will use everything we get our hands on and turn it in a deck storage. So on the left I use an Watch box. I use this box to put standard decks in. I also use another Watch box for the rest of the standard decks. In the middel and the right there is a standard deck box I use. This is the white version, but we them in every color of the rainbow. I forgot where we got these boxes but I already used these boxen in the time we played Magic. And we got a ton off them, seriously we got like 50 boxes.
But why the Watch boxes you think? Thats simple to explain. We travel a lot and playing all over the country with new players we never met like a organised campaign or with friends and colleagues. So in one Watch box there can be put up to 4 decks and takes a lot less space then 4 white boxes.
sleeves for player cards
Alright this is where the magic begins for every player. Its always the most common conversation we have when we are at local campaigns events. If its LOTR LCG or Arkham Horror its al the same for us. If you want to make one investment that will cost you more then you wished then this is it!
You player card sleeves must the best, why? Thats also a simple answer. You hold your cards at all times. So they need to feel if you have the power in your hands. You will throw them every where, like in your backpack, suitcase and on the table. You will shuffle them like a million times. You play every where and nowhere. You will go to other realms and dimensions. So buy the best of the best. We are in love with the Ultrapro's Eclipse version. We also bought a lot off these sleeves. Every color we bought dubbel or triple times! Every one has his or her own love when it come to sleeves. But this is our love!
on the go.....
Like we said, we travel a lot. And we want to play every where we go. Leaving without a single card, that's not a option. Some people will go to the gym, some people will go to cafes and restaurants. But where every we go we want to play a single scenario or if we are lucky we playing a few. We know a few locations where we can drink coffee or beer and left alone to play a couple off games and we love it. So how do we bring stuff? Meet Flip and tray.
These boxes are awesome to take with you. You can take up to 2 decks and 1 scenario with you. Or you can take 3 player decks and 3 to 4 scenario's if you have 2 boxes. You also can store your dice and tokens in the top compartment. We totally addicted to these boxes but they come with a price. They are pricey so keep that in your mind.
weakness cards + scenario special cards
We organised the weakness cards on the traits they have. We will use 3 dices and throw them. The outcome is a slot in the pages of the weakness. So if you make a deck you never know with weakness you must put in your deck. This technique make it a lot of fun when creating your own decks.
On the far right we have also organised the special cards you will encounter in the scenario's. This is a bid odd because if you make your scenario ready you have to grap this map as wel. Bud these cards we consider as player cards and needed to store as well.
scenario and rule sheets
Yes we know.... you will all say we are crazy perfectionists but we like to organised. In our real work office its all the same. When you are organised you can move mountains. Really, do you job 120% or stay home haha. So we also organised the rule sheets. We use simple plastic binders and the sheet we put in sheet protectors. We put them in separate maps for each cycle. If friends came along we discuss which cycle and campaign we are gonna play. So these bunch of sheet maps will help us to decide which campaign we start. You can quickly read the intro and that's important for the ambiance you are into that night.
encounter sets
The most cards are totally the encounter sets. We got so much cards to organised that it will make you crazy if you didn't start at day one. So we bought a lot of storage boxes. These cheap cardboard boxes are amazing. The only real investment we made where the dividers. You can find them on our Instagram pages if you want to know where we get them. So back to the cards. If you bought the dividers the rest will speak for itself. Its divide the cycles and the entire sets on there own. Every card set has its own divider and they are really cool.
If you look at the picture you can see the quality of the dividers. Its a must have if you are willing to pay the high price. But we love them and want to buy every expansion that comes in the future, because we already bought everything.
tools we use
Mythos boards
Make your sessions better and order your Investigator boards ad team covenant! These board are awesome and will help you trough out the game. If you use these board only one time you never can go back! You can drop your damage and horror tokens (not include with the boards) in the slots what makes it easier to see how many you have. Even for you resources and you hard earned clues je kan drop in the board. So you have a very good overall view what gonna on with your investigator. The investigator card drops perfectly in the middle even when its sleeved.
Play mats
This is one of our varieties items to use. These are play mats. And it makes your surface smooth and clean. Your cards will not stick and slide pretty amazing on these mats.
If you are like us and care for your cards buy these mats because they safe your cards. It also make playing card games a lot of fun and it feels amazing. We use 2 bigger ones depends on how many players we are. And like the LOTR LCG we use long small ones.
We got them just like the deck boxes in every colour so you can build a real ambient table.
Note books
Ok these are a must when you travel and playing Arkham Horror LCG. You always play a campaign and with your friends it can take some time when you see each other. So you need to wright down what you did and what's happend that evening. We not just right down what happens in the scenario but almost every choice that was made. So we won't show you the inside because thats personal. But we recommend note books! If you only play once a week there is no other option. We will forget stuff and between scenario's there are some choices to be made. So bring your book and pencils.
Dices
You don't need a lot of dices with Arkham Horror LCG. But it will make a difference. If you play with 4 people you will need those dice. Because the board on the table became very big. With all the player cards and locations. Use them and you will have a better view on what's going on.
Chaos bags
We uses a couple of chaos bags. Because right now I playing the Dunwich campaign for the website. We playing the circle undone with friends. And then we have the campaign that Jessie and I are playing. Thats the innsmouth conspiracy. So 3 bags in total and that a lot of tokens. We use tokens from 2 core sets so we didn't have to worry about not having enough.
One tip I want to give you. Buy the biggest bag. I have big hands end the smaller bags doesn't work for me. Also a tip we want to give you. Buy some coin chases. You can buy them online almost everywhere, we use the one that fist a €2 coin. Its makes grabbing tokens from the chaos bag way cooler and you tokens can't be destroyed by nasty fingers.
That's a rep! Now you survivors know what we use and must important how to quick setup your game. Keep playing and blow some monster up in the air! Keep the table top games a life!
Jeroen / Jessie - dutch blogger company
