Aetherworks Acrylic Tokens Review

Today I received a parcel!

I had very quickly decided that the cardboard icons and templates provided with the X Wing core set would not suffice. I mean, I'm certain they're more than adequate and have the added benefit of being free, but they just don't have the pazazz I'm looking for. So I jumped on the net and looked around through the various manufacturers of acrylic tokens and templates. The frontrunners were Corsec Engineering, Applied Perspective or Aetherworks. In the end, I went for the Aetherworks ones because they're an Australian manufacturer and I liked their Target Lock tokens the best. So I ordered a bunch of stuff.

Aetherworks tokens

I decided to do a comparison between the FFG tokens and the Aetherworks ones to see how they match up.

Aetherworks Maneuver Templates

Here you can see the Maneuver templates. Well, the ones that made it in frame anyway. I'm still learning this whole 'photography' thing. As you can see, they are identical to the card ones. No surprises there, maneuver templates that didn't match the official ones wouldn't be much use.

Aetherworks Asteroid Templates

Here are their Asteroid Templates. To be honest, these feel a bit phoned in. They're a match for the FFG ones in terms of outline and size, but the images are just little geometric shapes etched into the acrylic. I think I'll just end up using the card ones.

Aetherworks Tokens

Here you can see the rest of the tokens. I'm very happy with these. The Target Locks in particular are nice, and just a touch smaller than the FFG ones (smaller is better IMO since a lot of these can end up on the table at once) and I probably would have preferred that the Ion and Stress tokens were red instead of being a bit orange, but I can live with that.

Overall a good product at a good price that I'm very happy with. Not pictured are the range rulers I also got, one in each size (range 1, 1-2 and range 1-3). I highly recommend these to anyone interested in 3rd party tokens and templates.

KR Multicase review

So for my first proper post I want to talk about storage. Specifically I want to talk about storage and carrying cases for X Wing.

KR Multicase

This is a standard black aluminium case from KR Multicase. They are a mob operating out of the UK but with distribution centres in the USA as well. They also have stockists in Australia but I ordered directly from their website.

The case fits a lot of X Wing stuff. I mean, I don't have as much as some people but this fits it all comfortably.

Plano fishing tackle box

This is a Plano fishing tackle box model 3705.You can probably get it from BCF or Aussie Disposals or any sort of camping/fishing store. As you can see it has removable inserts to build your own compartments and comfortably fits all the tokens and dice I would need for a game of X Wing. It fits all the movement templates except the 5 straight, which can sit inside the KR case.

Inside the KR case

The KR cases are designed so that you can fit multiple foam trays inside them. There are many cases on the market that share this design philosophy, and some of them are probably cheaper but I really like the look of the KR cases and I have no self control, so these are the ones I went with.

These trays are designed to hold X Wing fighters. As you can see, the base fits into a slot and the ship is held in place. This tray fits 8 ships, and is modular (you can remove some pieces) to accommodate taller ships (you can see I've done this for the B Wing on the top row). Now, the other fighter tray from KR is advertised to hold ten of any fighters, but in actual fact the TIE fighters are too tall to fit in them. If you plan on putting your TIEs in KR cases you'll need the one pictured, that only holds 8 fighters. No big deal but a bit annoying if you ordered the other tray to put your eyeballs in and they didn't fit. 

Now, that Plano case I mentioned before happens to be just the right size to fit inside a KR tray...

Plano inside a KR tray

This means that I can fit the case with tokens etc inside the KR case, minimising the amount of stuff I need to carry. My plan for the future is to buy another KR case (half depth this time, looks like a slimline briefcase) and use it to carry the tokens and dice and cards, along with the dials and ship bases for both factions. Then I can get ANOTHER KR case so I can use one to house my Rebels and one for my Imperial ships. By this point I will have spent significantly more on KR cases than on the models inside them.

I regret nothing.

The 10 fighter tray

This is the tray I mentioned above that holds ten fighters. It easily fits the Interceptors, X Wings, and A Wings that make up the rest of my collection. Worthy of note is the fact that the Y Wing is slightly too long for the trays, so when it's store conventionally it's nose sticks out a bit. This isn't a huge problem since the foam trays are soft enough that they absorb the difference, but I was worried that over time repeatedly opening and closing the trays the paint on the nose of the Y Wing would wear off, so I removed it from it's base and stored it separately in another compartment. Again, hardly a deal breaker but something buyers should be aware of.

The dials and bases

This is the slimline tray that houses the movement dials and ship bases. Even with my limited collection it's a bit crowded, but I have another one sitting in the cupboard ready for my second KR case. I think one tray should easily handle an entire faction. I don't plan on buying the more esoteric ships like TIE Phantoms or K Wings so my collection should be relatively limited.

But Charlie (oh, that's me. I'm Charlie. Hi.) what about the cards?

Ah, I'm glad you asked dear reader.

Cards in their sleeves

I picked up some Ultrapro card sheets and sleeves from the news agents. For overseas readers, an news agents in Australia is a shop that sells newspapers and magazines and assorted stationery. The binder is just some $1.50 binder I picked up while I was there. I want to get a dedicated card holding 'folio' but haven't seen one I liked yet.

Upgrade cards in side-loading sleeves

I also sourced some side loading Ultrapro card sleeves from eBay. These were a bit more expensive but when you've already dropped more cash than I'm comfortable admitting on cases for your models, what's a few extra dollars? The cards slide around a little bit in these sleeves since they are standard sized pockets but half sized cards, but it's not unacceptable.

On a related note, when I ordered my half depth case from KR they accidentally sent me a half WIDTH case. Not the same. Due to the structure of the case it would be more difficult to carry and not really suitable for the purpose I intended. When I contacted KR to solve the problem, they sent me out a new case (yet to arrive at the time of writing) and told me to keep the old one as well. Extremely generous of them, I thought!

And finally, I apologize for the low quality of the pictures, I'm working off a very cheap camera at the moment. I plan to upgrade at some point in the future when I'm not spending every spare dollar on small plastic space ships.

Hello there!

Well. I've always been told that if you're unable to find the content you want, then you should create it. So, here it is. I've spent more hours than I care to admit trawling the internet for blogs, forums, pictures, reviews, information and communities to share my wargaming passion with, but sometimes I come up short. I find bits and pieces of information that I want spread all over the place, and I find myself making longer and longer posts on various forums expressing my views and generally taking up space and wasting time. So I've decided, in an attempt to condense all that waffle and information, to create my own blog.

This is my first post so it will serve as an introduction, both for myself and the blog in general. I'm a wargaming enthusiast from rural Australia. I am in my thirties, married with a family, and generally just your average Joe Wargamer trying to fit my games of toy soldiers around work, family commitments and other bothersome interferences. I am a bit of a wandering wargaming floozy, flitting from one game to another as the mood takes me. My current passion is X Wing by Fantasy Flight Games. For those not in the know, X Wing is a dogfighting game set during the Star Wars galactic civil war. Which is to say, during the original trilogy. It's a very tight, balanced game that has only a handful of rules and the miniatures come pre-painted, which is awesome if you've got a tremendous painting backlog like I do.

My intention for this blog is to share the wargaming, painting and modelling knowledge I have so others can use it (and not incidentally, so I can keep it all in one place). Expect reviews on products, hints and tips for modelling and painting, ways to pimp out your games, and hopefully most of my articles will contain an Australian point of view. Which means that products recommended and stores mention should be available for Australian readers to find, which isn't always the case!

That's it for now. Expect updates sporadically when I can be bothered, and pictures when I can find my camera.