I recently acquired an A-Case Victory magnetic army transport, and wanted to share the experience I had with this bag. First, allow me to give you a little background (or feel free to just skip ahead to the review part below).

I’ve been into the wargaming hobby for the last 15 years (to be honest though, there’s been periods when I’ve been more or less active throughout that time). What’s kept me going that long is definitely the painting and collecting aspect, though I get to play the occasional laid-back game once in a while. Back when I started, the stores were all stocking blisters full of white metal and boxes with crude plastics, and most miniatures were generally of similar shape, size, and pose. Today, the market has evolved considerably; highly detailed resins and innovative plastic sprues resulting in wonderfully intricate miniatures of all shapes are now the norm.

In the past, it’s been easy whenever it was time to get a game on, as my closest friends lived quite near and we had a local store where we could play. Not to mention, our minis fit quite well into the pre-cut foam transports available at the time. But all that has changed, and in the last years, I haven’t gotten many games in…

A short while ago, me and my mates decided to literally “go that extra mile” in order to get together and try out the new 2.0 version of Warzone Resurrection. For me, that meant a trip of about 4-5 hours on several buses and trains, desperately carrying around all my wargaming supplies. Needless to say, I was quite nervous as to how I would transport my collection in the chaos that is the public transport system. I’m a slow painter, and prior to our meet-up, I had managed to finish up 700+ points of Dark Legion. I am also quite OCD about keeping my miniatures in perfect condition, and in the past, I was never 100% happy with the foam case solutions. Chipping, breaking, or bending did happen to me (aaaagh!!!) and the coolest minis were always the hardest to fit, due to their extravagant poses or non-uniform shapes.

I did some research to see what alternatives there were in terms of army transports, and came upon A-Case. It sounded really good, so I went ahead and ordered a Victory Case and, with trepidation, set out on my not-so-gentle journey.

Below, you’ll see how it all went. I’ve divided this review into different categories, and I will also provide my own thoughts as a comparison with the traditional foam cases. While I’m mentioning some of the specs of the Hermes variant, I do not own one and therefore it will not be a part of my impressions in this review.

Price point

At the time of writing this review, the A-Case Victory retails for $129/€114/£99 (while it’s bigger brother, the Hermes, goes for $189/€167/£146). That price is pretty much the equivalent of the Citadel Crusade (Games Workshop’s large case), or one of the lower budget, large-sized Battle Foam cases. The dimensions of the A-Case is considerably smaller than its competitors, but looks can be deceiving, as I’ll explain in detail further ahead.

The Victory and the Hermes both includes 60 pieces of rare earth magnets (6×2 mm). Note that if you live in Europe, the price of the A-Case includes shipping.

Your opinion on whether the price is competitive or not will depend on what your army looks like and how you will use your case (more on that in Capacity below). For my forces, there is more than enough space in the Victory. Personally, with the magnets and free shipping included, I think it’s a good deal!

Assembly

The A-Cases (both variants) require some assembly. Luckily, there’s no need for screws, nails, or glue – it holds together by itself. In fact, the powder coated aluminium frame fits together with its interlocking, which in turn is held in place by the outer fabric of the bag. It’s very sturdy and easy to put together. There were no instructions included in my order, but there’s an easy-to-follow YouTube video from A-Case, should you run into trouble.

In a way, magnetizing the bases is also a part of the “assembly process”, in order for the whole system to work. For any hobbyist with some experience, this should not be a problem.

On regular plastic bases, the magnets are simply glued on. My army has cast resin bases, and for these, I needed to drill shallow holes in the bottom, into which I glued the magnets. To be sure, I glued two of them on each base, in order to stop them from pivoting and hurting the adjacent miniatures with weapons etc., outside the “footprints”. This really secures them in place. I found that 2 pieces of 3mm magnets work great on 30mm bases and 4.75mm ones are good for 40mm bases. On the huge 80mm base of my Preatorian Behemoth, I used four of the provided 6mm magnets for extra support. It’s probably not necessary to go all overkill on the number of magnets on each base like I did, but hey – it can’t hurt, right?

Size & weight

Like I already mentioned, the A-Case Victory is a lot smaller than its competitors of the same price range. The dimensions are roughly 265mm x 290mm x 165mm and it weighs about 1,4 kg. From a transportation perspective, smaller and lighter is always better. In fact, I was able to put mine inside my bigger luggage as I traveled to my gaming destination, eliminating the need to have multiple bags. You just can’t do this with the bigger foam cases. Otherwise, you can just have it on your shoulder and it’s really not a hassle at all.

Capacity

The Victory consists of three rectangular powder coated iron trays that fit into the case. Each tray is about 265mm x 140mm. What’s great about the magnetic system is that you can pack your models tightly together without the risk of them damaging each other. This of course saves space and makes for a more efficient storage. For example, if you would only store infantry minis on 30mm bases, each iron tray could store 36 of them (i.e. 108 in total). That is quite amazing considering the small size of the Victory! Of course, you have to consider the need for space between miniatures, if they have weapons or other parts that stick out a lot from their “footprints”. And what’s perhaps more important is the height of the minis. The vertical space between each tray of the Victory is slightly below 75mm, so anything taller than 70mm would require you to remove a tray (or two). For me, this customizable aspect is a great plus for the case. It could, for example, be used to transport a centerpiece model of up to around 210mm in height (although the price of such a setup could potentially be higher than the solo mini it’s protecting…).

In order to transport my Dark Legion force, I remove the middle tray of the case. This enables me to fit the Preatorian Behemoth, and the Razide holding its weapon upright on the bottom tray. Then I can easily put the rest of my infantry and heroes on the top tray, with lots of extra space on both trays! For a very large army, a good solution could be to buy one Victory for the taller and trickier miniatures, and one Hermes (which has a single, larger tray) for all the infantry and medium-height ones. If you really need to get the most out of your case, you could defy gravity and place miniatures both on top of, as well as underneath, the trays! If you look at my setup, this actually gives me an entire extra tray-worth of space to use!

Another plus is a pouch where you can easily fit an A5 format rule book and/or other miscellaneous stuff. I manage to fit rules, dice, cards, and objective markers in mine. It’s just handy to have everything in one place.

Protection

This is it, the most important aspect (in my opinion). Does it offer solid protection for your precious army? The short answer is a definite and resounding “yes!”.

On my journey, I was forced to squeeze my luggage in between seats. I had it standing up/laying down, threw it up into an overhead compartment, and dragged it along on its wheels on uneven surfaces, which shook it quite a bit. Let’s just say, it wasn’t the gentlest of travels, and all the while my A-Case Victory resided within the big luggage. My head was filled with scenarios of unpacking a broken army upon my arrival. As I met up with my mates and we entered our battle bunker, I carefully unpacked the Victory. And it was all in 100% perfect shape! Nothing had moved at all, and there was absolutely no damage of any kind to be found. Triumphantly, I could display the power of magnets by holding the trays upside down and shaking them up. One of my mates had unfortunately broken a couple of his Ronin Samurai while transporting them in foam, and he was most impressed with my setup. So much so that he actually ordered an A-Case of his own after our battle!

As long as your miniatures are carefully magnetized and laid out in a good manner on the trays, you have nothing to worry about. If you carry the case separately, the outer polyester bag is also quite sturdy and offers good protection against the elements. There are plenty of videos on YouTube where people throw around their A-Cases on the ground, showing off the undamaged miniatures inside. It is a very powerful solution for transporting your collection safely, one that I can highly recommend.

Final thoughts

I had a very positive experience with my A-Case Victory. In my mind, it is especially well suited for transporting miniatures of irregular shapes and sizes. It is also quite effective as a mass infantry transport (where its small size and weight is unbeatable in relation to its capacity). For my mid-size Warzone Resurrection force, it takes on both those roles. I have no doubt I could easily fit around 1000-1500 points of Dark Legion in it, as I finish more models in the near future.

All things considered, I am extremely happy that I bought an A-Case, and it will see a lot of use in the future. I just can’t see myself going for a foam case now that I have my Victory. If you decide to dive in as well, just do some measurement of your forces, and check how your army would fit, so you can buy the right model. Hopefully this review would help you make that decision. Thanks for reading and happy wargaming!

Photos and text by Robin Svensson