I received my Zen Bins Rebellion Custom Storage Trays yesterday, and I have to say, they're balls awesome.
The primary aggravation I had with this game was the process of setting it up and putting it away in a timely manner, and keeping the copious variety of components safely and sufficiently organised. For me, the Zen Bins trays are almost exactly how I wish the game would have ideally arrived in the first place; it's a remarkably practical and functional design. I also very much appreciated that no assembly was required, because as attractive as custom wooden inserts can be, I've dealt with inserts for other games that took hours to assemble, and futzing around with glue and assembly instructions can often become an exercise in frustration. These trays function exactly as described, and it's difficult to imagine a design that could be any quicker in terms of being ready for immediate setup (i.e. you just hand each player their trays, and pieces are placed on the board directly from them). The Empire and Rebels receive two trays each, one that houses all of the Leaders, cards, and other tokens (along with the three Death Star miniatures in the Empire Leader Tray), and another that holds and organises the impressive array of miniatures (and dice in the Rebel Unit Tray), as depicted below:
The Four Trays:
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Basic Layout:
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Leader Trays:
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Another feature worthy of mention here, is the tremendous visibility the Zen Bins Leader Trays provide (notice how easy it is to clearly read all the stat symbols on the Leaders shown here). This was one of the more frustrating aspects of playing the game without a proper organiser, as comparing stats of Leaders during the Recruitment Phase was previously quite inconvenient, and tended to needlessly slow the game down. You either keep the 24 Leaders in the game box without being able to see them properly and pull them out as needed, or find somewhere else upon the table to arrange them all during play, both of which are rather troublesome. Thankfully, the arrangement of the Zen Bins Leader Trays provides perfect clarity of all Leaders and their stats, without ever needing to touch anything at all, which is a hugely efficient improvement, IMO.
Unit Trays:
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However, while this wasn't a concern for me, I could envision one potential downside of this design, as it may be awkward for those with limited table space. The trays do require even
more table space, which may present a problem given the already prodigious footprint of the game as is. As for organisation though, I couldn't be happer; the compartments of these trays literally house each and every component safely and securely. There's even a nifty 'hidden' storage area for attachment rings located beneath the Rebel Objective Deck and the Empire Projects Deck, as shown here:
Attachment Ring Storage:
(Click to embiggen)
In summary, as long as table space isn't an issue, I'd say this is an outstanding storage and organisation solution, and give it my strongest recommendation. Everything fits snugly and securely within the box; even when the box is stored vertically, everything remains perfectly intact. The fact that no assembly is required, and that it's also surprisingly affordable (as compared to custom wooden inserts) is a great bonus, too. Considering the typical playtime this game requires, finding a suitable product to minimise set-up and break-down is almost mandatory. Because time wasted upon the process of setting up and putting away, is time better spent on the immensely enjoyable underlying gameplay (thereby increasing the likelihood of getting the game to the table). In that regard, the Zen Bins Trays absolutely deliver in spades.
- ChesspieceFace
