Some people do “Un-Boxings.” I do “Re-Boxings” The last one I did was for Flat Top. Click here to see that project. This time it’s Avalon Hill’s Bismarck. I must say that this is by far my favorite game in my collection. I have two copies. A well worn player’s copy featured here and an un-punched copy with light shelf wear. My player’s copy box has seen better days. When I pull it off the shelf stuff comes out of it because all four corners of the lid are split.
As you can see my player’s copy of Bismarck has accumulated years of AUTHENTIC BATTLE DAMAGE!
So I set out on a quest scouring the corners of the interwebs looking for something to put all my Bismarck bits in. I finally ran across some Archival Storage Boxes from a company called Lineco. They are mainly for photo storage and are acid free. The size you would need for Bismarck is 11.5 x 14.5 x 1.75. They also make other sizes and depths from 1 inch to 3 inches.
Mine happens to faux leather but you can get other colors like gray, red, white or black. I got mine on Amazon although you can get them from other web retailers or even maybe your local craft or photography store.
It’s heavy duty clam shell construction and has little metal reinforcements on the corners. I’d say it would take quite awhile before this guy starts to get the splits.
Click Me and make me bigger and you can see my heavy metal on the left corner. Careful, it might get loud.
As you can see, the Bismarck game bits fit nicely in the faux leather box. The pieces being in baggies probably contributed to some of the AUTHENTIC BATTLE DAMAGE that my copy suffered over the years.
Those sandwich baggies have got to be at least 25 years old. I’ve had this game since…. Well a pretty good while.
I’m glad I opted for the 1.75″ thick one. I could have gotten a 1″ thick one but I wanted to make sure it would close properly. It does and the cool thing is I can now add a counter tray to my Bismarck Box! It’s probably the nicest thing I’ve ever done for this game. The only other thing I may try to add to it would be some way to hold it closed. Maybe two snap like disks and some string in a figure 8 pattern or something like that.
Happy game pieces all tucked in their tray. Even the the long “miniature” counters fit nicely. I still need to go in and sort them though.
All in all I’m happy with my box purchase. I got mine for $15.97. Sounds a little pricey for a replacement box and I guess it kind of is. What I was looking for was kind of an odd size. The original Bismarck Box is about the same dimensions only it’s about 1″ tall. If you get one that isn’t faux leather you might be able to save a few dollars. I think you can order in bulk on Lineco’s website and maybe save a little too. SOme of the smaller boxes would be good for magazine or folio games in groups or by themselves.
Again, I got mine at Amazon. It was a bit pricey for one game but might be worth it for several. I could not find anything else that was big enough to fit the Bismarck Game Bits. Dick Blick also has a house brand that you can get as well.