Eldritch Horror Case - the Lower Workings

I was finally able to come back to this project, and start work on the lower level. Unfortunately while working on this part of the case, I realized I was going to end up only able to fit the Mountains of Madness components into my plan, and not the upcoming Pyramids release. But having the case able to store the base game, 2 small box expansions and 1 large box expansion seems pretty good to me, so it is what it is.

Eldritch Horror Case - the Top Level

For this project I'm using some pretty basic materials:

• This artist's case purchased from Hobby Lobby in 2012 (if you want one, you may want to find a less scummy source if their behavior appalls you).
• 5mm black foamcore
• X-actor knife with a supply of fresh blades (change often)
• Metal ruler
• Elmer's Glue-All (basically an all-purpose white glue)
• Dressmaking pins (used to temporarily hold joints in place until the glue sets)

For construction, I decided to start with the top layer of the case that I had wanted to hold the cards and bits accessed throughout the game. My hope was that as I created dividers and cubbies, I might be able to store extra pieces on this layer that I had earmarked for the lower section. Sure enough, I was able to move the dice and miscellaneous tokens (omen track marker, 1st player marker, etc.) to this layer fairly easily. The biggest factor in my fitting in more stuff was that I chose to make some areas two-layer, stacking storage boxes on top of each other in order to have wider openings (easier to scoop chits out of) without taking up huge amounts of space in the box.

Eldritch Horror Case - Planning & Resource Gathering

First step of the project was to figure out how everything would fit best within the case. I basically pulled out everything I had and started just putting it in and out of the case in different configurations. Of course then I realized one flaw in my thinking - I wasn't considering expansions! I know it's only a mater of time before I buy Mountains of Madness & the recently announced Under the Pyramids expansion is also shaping up to be a must-buy, and who knows what will come next...

Eldritch Horror Case - Introduction

So years ago I bought an artist's case online with a vague idea that I would turn it into a thematic container for my copy of Arkham Horror (and possibly Elder Sign also). For a while I even stored AH within the case in an effort to spark enough inspiration to get started, though when we bought our house the resultant move meant the game returned to its original box for safe passage.

Fast-forward to now & that case has sat in the closet with my crafting stuff since we moved into our house a little over a year ago. Not only that, but while I enjoy AH, Eldritch Horror has pretty much replaced it as my solo game of choice. For one thing, I've even purchased both of the small box expansions & keep looking longingly at the Mountains of Madness - my AH is still only the base game, as the relatively few play opportunities & table-hogging nature of the game conspired to prevent my justifying adding to it. So clearly, when I found the artist's case again while sorting through some boxes, it was time to revisit that old project but with a new game destined for such special treatment!

Now I have never attempted a custom insert before & my only use of foamcore was to make a dice tower a long time ago, so do not assume I'm an expert. But as I work through this project, it's incredibly satisfying to see some fairly impressive (for me) results, so I figured I'd document the process here:

Introduction (this post)

Planning & Resource Gathering

Phase One - the Top Level

Phase Two - the Lower Workings

Phase Three - the Inner Lid (coming soon)
The Final Product (coming soon)