Tabletop Tyrant – Dreadnought Backpack Figure Case Review

Whilst your miniatures may be devastating on the table top, chances are they’re pretty fragile when in transit. Your hordes of little plastic soldiers may be used to shrugging off devastating dice rolls, but they likely won’t fare so well being bashed around on the bus, or dropped on the pavement outside your favourite FLGS. Luckily, there are solutions available – such as Tabletop Tyrant’s Dreadought Backpack Figure Case.

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Tabletop Tyrant – Dreadnought Backpack Figure Case Review – Summary

As protective as it is practical, Tabletop Tyrant’s Dreadnought Backpack Figure Case is the ultimate in miniature transportation and storage. Easy to use and with an intuitive design, let the reinforced walls and cut foam trays of this backpack take all the worry out of moving your prized miniatures.

Tabletop Tyrant – Dreadnought Backpack Figure Case Review – Introduction

If you’re reading FauxHammer.com, you’re doing so because you love minis.

Whether it’s building, painting, playing, or just collecting, chances are you’re quite protective of your little plastic armies. And that’s understandable. You’ve spent a lot of time, effort, and cash on them.

It’s pretty likely, then, that you want to keep them looking nice.

Whilst your miniatures may be safe when they’re sat in your home, sequestered away on their shelf or locked up in their display cabinet, should they ever venture into the world beyond they’ll come face-to-face with all sorts of dangers.

Cramped public transport. People not looking where they’re going. Being dropped. The chilling list goes on. The world is a perilous place if you’re only a couple of inches high.

Keeping your prized miniatures safe should be a priority. It’s heartbreaking taking your favourite figure somewhere, just to arrive and find it broken (believe me, I know). That’s exactly why companies like Tabletop Tyrant exist.

We ran into the folks at Tabletop Tyrant at the UK Games Expo a few weeks back. You can see them in our YouTube roundup video from the event. Following on from UKGE, they very kindly sent us a voucher for use in their webstore and, whilst they didn’t suggest any specific products to us, they did recommend we tried out the clever Build Your Own feature they have on their site.

Thus begins this review…

Tabletop Tyrant – Dreadnought Backpack Figure Case Review – The Process

Now, instead of just holding the bag up in front of you and going “it good, me like” or whatever it is we usually do here at FauxHammer.com, in order to take a proper look at Tabletop Tyrant’s Dreadnought Backpack we have to go on a bit of a journey.

Step 1 – Choose Your Army

First off, I had to figure out what exactly I wanted. See, as I said, the folks at Tabletop Tyrant sent me a voucher for their site and (quite cruelly, to be honest) left me to my own devices. Why is that mean? Well, Tabletop Tyrant have a lot of really cool stuff available, so trying to pick a handful of things – or a singular thing – to show you guys was going to be really tough.

I asked myself: if I were a regular hobbyist and not some wannabe big-shot writer with too many opinions and not enough words, what would I put in my case?

The answer came to me surprisingly quickly. My Ironjawz.

Anyone who follows me on my Twitter (or here, as I have a habit of sneaking pictures of them into reviews), knows I love my Ironjawz. They are my favourite army. I have spent hours painting and building them. I’ve come up with my own colour scheme, and had made up all sorts of my own bits of headcannon for them.

They are my most treasured Warhammer collection – and, subsequently, the army I have thought about playing actual games with. I also, rather handily, have around 2,000 points of them which is a fairly standard Warhammer army size. Therefore, it’s the army I’d be most likely to move, but also the one I’d be most upset about if it got damaged – ergo, it’s the one I’d want a good case for.

It also makes sense from a testing point of view. I’ve got big models and small models, models with pointy bits and models with their arms sticking out. I’ve got a trio of chaps riding pigs, and a Megaboss standing atop a pile of rubble and skulls.

To give you a sense of exactly what I’ve got in my Ironjawz army – and thus what I’m going to try and fit in this case – here’s a list of everything and their associated base size.

That’s 51 figures in total, ranging from a Megaboss and Maw-Krusha on a gigantic 160mm base down to the much smaller Ardboyz on their 32mm bases. In order to see what the Tabletop Tyrant Dreradnought can really do, the diversity and spread of weird and wonderful (and probably quite difficult) miniatures in this army will really put it through its paces.

This is because there’s quite a detailed process involved in actually getting your backpack the way I got mine. You see, Tabletop Tyrant actually let you design your own backpack to an extent.

Step 2 – Choose Your Container

Okay, so perhaps saying you get to “design your own backpack” is a bit nonspecific. See, what Tabletop Tyrant’s website allows you to do is select the foam inserts that will go into your new backpack.

If you navigate to their “Figure Cases” and find the model of case that suits you, you’ll see a “Build Your Own” option. There are other pre-loaded options as well, with cases coming with all sorts of different foam inserts selected for you. Of course, another option is to just buy the bag empty.

However, using the Build Your Own option has some serious benefits. Chief among these is that Tabletop Tyrant’s website will tell you whether or not the inserts you want will fit in your new case.

This was the option I ultimately decided to go with – in part because this is what the team at Tabletop Tyrant advised I do, and they’re the experts.

Step 3 – Choose Your Foam

With the Build Your Own option selected, Tabletop Tyrant’s website takes you to a page that allows you to select what inserts you want for your case.

You’ll see all the available foam inserts you can choose from to put in your lovely new case. It’s at this point you’ll need to figure out just what you’ll need to house your whole army. Take some time to check your bases, to go through Tabeltop Tyrant’s product catalogue, and explore all of what they have available.

There’s quite a lot, so take your time.

Once you’re sure what foam inserts you’d like, all you need to do is scroll over them and click “Add to Case”.

Tabletop Tyrant’s website will them calculate how much room you have left in your selected case and will display this on the right-hand side of the page.

You can even watch your case slowly fill up as you add more and more stuff to it.

As you continue to build your case, the preview will continuously update. Also, as you begin to run out of room, certain options will grey themselves out.

Once the case is full and you’ve finished building, click Add to Basket.

In the end, I ended up ordering:

• 1 x Dreadnought Backpack Figure Case
• 1 x 150mm deep Hybrid Pick and Pluck
• 1 x 50mm deep Elite Infantry Tray
• 1 x 50mm deep Primaris Heavy Infantry Tray
• 1 x 50mm deep Heavy Infantry
• 1 x 28 mm Egg Shell

Now, all I had to do was wait.

The Backpack

I placed my order late on a Tuesday evening, and was pleasantly surprised when a DPD van dropped my order off that Thursday morning.

Also, because this thing is way too big to fit in my lightbox, we’re all going to go outside together to take advantage of the nice weather and the Norfolk countryside.

Anyway, here’s Tabletop Tyrant’s Dreadnought backpack in all its magnificence.

It’s massive,

Clocking in at 15″ wide, 12″ deep, and 16.5″ tall (38cm x 30cm x 42cm), I didn’t really appreciate the size of this thing until it was in front of me.

But in spite of its gigantism, its design is smart and simple – strikingly so. It’s classy and suave, not gaudy or garish as certain carry cases sometimes are.

It has no fewer than three large Velcro pockets on the front, which is plenty of room for your handbooks, notebooks, datasheets, dice, range rulers, and anything else you may need to cart around with your miniatures.

The bag also comes with a variety of different carrying handles and straps. You can see two in the image above: the hefty handle on the top of the case, and the cross-body messenger-style strap. This can easily be adjusted.

Spinning the bag around, however, we get the third carrying option. Now, the thing that really drew me to the Dreadnought over some of the other products that Tabletop Tyrant have in their (frankly huge) range was that the Dreadnought comes as a backpack.

There are literally hundreds – heck, maybe even thousands – of carry cases available for miniatures. However, most come in briefcase or laptop bag-style containers, with only one handle. Plus, a case this large filled with miniatures is going to be heavy. This means you’re going to be swapping which hand is carrying the bag constantly. Even across your shoulder, this is going to become uncomfortable after a while. Every time you shift the wight, and change hand or shoulder, you risk dropping the case.

However, that you can wear the Dreadnought as a backpack is an inspired idea. Not only do you get to keep your hands free as you move around, but the backpack is also considerably more secure – and you’re probably less likely to bonk it on things as you go.

It’s also got a backrest and padding to make sure it’s as comfortable as it can be. In terms of ergonomics and comfort of use, Tabletop Tyrant have thought of everything.

Anyway, moving on, let’s take a look inside.

This thing is seriously sturdy. Every face of Tabletop Tyrant’s Dreadnought backpack is reinforced with 3mm of plastic sheet to keep your miniattures safe from all but the hardest knocks.

And there are even more pockets!

Inside the case, located at the rear of the compartment as you face it, is a pocket large enough for a rulebook, codex, or whatever it is you may need. There are also additional pockets on the outer side of the backpack too, for even more bits and pieces you may need.

The Foam

A crucial part of the Tabletop Tyrant Dreadnought backpack – well, of any figure carry case – is the foam that comes with it. This soft stuff will be where your miniatures reside during transit and storage, so you need to know whether or not it’s any good.

Opened up, the foam inserts inside the Dreadnought are designed to stack horizontally. As the Build Your Own tool on Tabletop Tyrant’s website promised, it’s in there nice and snug.

Removing the various inserts, you can see that, whilst they’re all cut, the inserts still have the cut foam in their slots.

These are very easy to remove, and slide out with very little effort. It’s also extremely satisfying to do.

In fact, they’re a little too easy and too satisfying. I got so in to preparing my new foam inserts for my Ironjawz that I completely forgot to take pictures of the inserts. You’ll notice amidst the following pictures that some of the foam looks a bit ragged. Well, that’s because I’d already started tearing chunks out of it!

Anyway, here’s what we go. First up, the 28 mm Egg Shell. Now, I won’t lie: I got this one because I had a little space left over in my case and I wanted to make sure I got the most out of the system for this review. I didn’t really have any idea what I would use it for, but I figures any miscellaneous models I couldn’t fit anywhere else may end up being able to take advantage of this one.

At best, it’s more storage. At worst, it’s an extra thick layer of padding.

Aside from the Egg Shell, each of the following foam inserts has roughly the same construction. Each is made up of a thicker layer of foam which has slots cut into it, then a second, much thinner layer, to act as an underside.

Following on from the Egg Shell is the 50mm deep Heavy Infantry. I picked this one specifically for my Ardboyz. Whilst they’re small (by Orruk miniature standards, at least), I was aware they’d likely need a bit more room for all their sticky-out arms and other pointy bits.

Next up, the 50mm deep Elite Infantry Tray. I got this specifically for my Brutes and other miniatures on 40mm bases. There’s plenty of space in each cutaway for larger miniatures, but the thickness of the foam walls between each slot isn’t compromised. There’s still plenty of padding for your minis.

Following on from the Elite Infantry tray is the 50mm deep Primaris Heavy Infantry Tray. I selected this one with a few specific models in mind: primarily, my two Megabosses, my Bawla and Burk, and some of my kitbashed Brutes with larger than average weapons.

Finally, we arrive at the 150mm deep Hybrid Pick and Pluck. This one does look a little ragged in the image below, as I started picking out sections for Gordrakk and my Gore-gruntas without first taking a picture of it (it’s also extremely satisfying to do, so I couldn’t stop).

This layer is, in fact, made of two layers of Pick and Pluck stuck together to give it additional depth. I chose this with Gordrakk in mind specifically, as the miniature is both very wide but also quite tall. I also planned on finding space for my Gore-gruntas on this layer.

The Pick and Pluck foam also comes away very easily and lets you hollow out a section to your liking as appropriate.

Across all the trays, the foam is of good quality and fit for purpose. It’s firm enough to cushion any impacts, but soft enough so as to not risk damaging your miniatures.

So far, so good.

Testing – Filling and Storing

There are a couple of things I wanted to do in order to get a sense of how good the Tabletop Tyrant Dreadnought backpack was. First – and most obviously of all – was fill it up with figures. How easy would this be to do? Have I selected the appropriate sizes online? This would be the moment of truth.

All but one of the Ardboyz went into the Heavy Infantry tray without any issues. As you can see in the picture below, there are a few axes and other pointy bits sticking out of the slots, but these are by no more than a single millimetre, so would still be safe.

Unfortunately, my Ardboyz’s banner-bearer couldn’t fit in the same layer as the rest of all his buddies due to his great big standard. This isn’t really any surprise, as the model is roughly twice the height of his plastic peers.

In fact, this Ardboy banner-bearer wasn’t the only chap who had to be separated from his pals.

Of my ten brutes, two are armed with Gore-choppas. Well, one is armed with a Gore-choppa, the other is armed with the massive poleaxe type-thing that comes with Gordrakk’s kit. Unfortunately, because they’re so much longer and wider than their contemporaries, I couldn’t fit them in the Elite Infantry Tray as I had hoped I would be able to.

Luckily, the Primaris Heavy Infantry Tray came to the rescue.

With nine much larger slots, I was able to easily fit the more awkward longer, wider and taller models into these slots without any difficulty.

They joined the Weirdnob Shaman, Bawla and Burk, and my Warchanter as well. Morgok’s Crushas, who you can see in the images above, were actually moved a little later on to allow room for a Megaboss….

…who very nearly almost didn’t fit.

Luckily, thanks to the padding of the layer above the Megaboss, the fact his base was sticking out so far wasn’t a huge issue for his wellbeing. It did, however, mean that I would struggle to place any larger miniatures in the slots beside him.

This is pretty much my error. What I should’ve done is ordered a slightly deeper Primaris Heavy Infantry Tray. A lot of Tabletop Tyrant’s foam cut-outs come with variable depths. The Primaris Heavy Infantry Tray, for example, comes in 35mm, 40mm, 50mm, 60mm and 75mm depths. I, font of wisdom that I am, for some reason didn’t consider that I’d need the tray to be at least 60mm deep in order to fit a 60mm base into it.

The good news is that Tabletop Tyrant offer a 60-day no-quibbles freepost returns or exchange service, so if I was really bothered about this (which I’m not, to be honest), I could easily get a new one. If I was outside of the 60 days, I’d only need to spend another £7-£10 for a deeper one, which isn’t the end of the world.

Moving on, and with the majority of my army packed, I turned to the Pick and Pluck layer. Gordrakk dived in easily, with plenty of space for both him and his huge mount. The Gore-gruntas, though, were a different story.

No matter how I tried to configure the Gore-gruntas, I couldn’t make space for them. I eventually cleared out room for two, then a little extra for the third, which I padded with some of the plucked foam. Whilst this doesn’t necessarily look very pretty, it did the job.

With a few more tweaks here and there, I’d finished loading the case up.

What Fits?

Well, everything. More or less.

Gordrakk – my pride and joy – went in with ease. If ensuring Gordrakk isn’t going to be damaged means my Gore-gruntas are a little bit more cramped, so be it.

I’ve even got space to spare on some of the trays – heck, I didn’t even touch the Egg Shell tray. I could get myself another unit of Brutes or two, maybe another Megaboss, and a bunch more Ardboyz.

There were are a couple of slightly tighter-fitting miniatures. We’ve already seen the Megaboss above, and one of Morgok’s Crushas couldn’t quite get his flail in as tightly as I would have liked.

But these are largely insignificant. With the protection offered by the surrounding layers of foam, as well as that 3mm plastic that encases the whole foam stack once it’s inside the Dreadnought backpack, these little grievances are barely worth considering.

What Doesn’t Fit?

Well, just one guy, actually. Unfortunately, he’s one of my favourites.

You might recognise Bazdrogg Nekk-Choppa as one of the Warhammer+ subscriber-exclusive miniatures. Knowing my love for Ironjawz, FauxHammer Himself kindly gifted me his Bazdrogg when I met him for the first time at Warhammer World a few weeks ago.

It’s partially my fault that Baz doesn’t fit in the case. I’ve elevated him off his base using some cork, and I’ve also surrounded him with various bits of battlefield detritus – including pointy spears – that stop him from fitting comfortably in any of the sections.

To be honest, though, this isn’t a complete dealbreaker. Looking back at that Primaris Heavy Infantry Tray, I could very easily cut the divider between these two slots and fit him in there reasonably comfortably.

If that’s the compromise I have to make in order to take one of my favourite minis to its destined battle, then so be it.

Testing – Going Walkabout

Speaking of taking my minis somewhere, I decided the best thing to do in order to really test the Tabletop Tyrant Dreadnought backpack was to take it somewhere.

So that’s exactly what I did.

I took the Dreadnought on a mile-long spin around where I live to see what it was like to actually move around with.

The case is very angular, so the padding on the back makes all the difference. It doesn’t rub, and it isn’t uncomfortable in the slightest. The straps are fully adjustable, and if they can go around giant ol’ me, they’ll be able to fit you.

I took the bag to see all the local sites, including the war memorial…

…and a field full of sheep.

I asked the sheep if any of them wanted a game, but they all said they only played Warhammer 40,000 and that Age of Sigmar was for losers. We argued until a farmer turned up and threatened to call the police if I didn’t leave. Defeated, I had to head home.

Whilst my pride took a beating, the case fared extremely well. The only time I bonked it on anything was when leaving the house. I turned to pull the door closed and caught the bag on the doorframe. The back does stick out a lot, probably not far off twice as far as a normal backpack, so it takes some getting used to the added depth.

In spite of all the added protective material (and it’s size, it’s not exactly small!) the Dreadnought backpack is surprisingly light. I won’t lie, there’s weight to it – especially when it’s got an army of miniatures in it – but it’s not so heavy as to be difficult to carry.

If you are particularly small, however, you might have a few more issues carrying the Dreadnought on your back. My partner is 5′ 5″, and whilst she could carry it with ease, she did note its considerable size. She commented that she felt she looked like a Deliveroo cyclist.

Still, the fact that the case could be carried with ease by someone of more average size speaks volumes about how well-made and surprisingly light it is.

Another win for the Dreadnought.

Tabletop Tyrant – Dreadnought Backpack Figure Case Review – Price and Availability

Building your own Dreadnought Backpack Figure case, with your own bespoke set of foam tray inserts, will cost you a flat rate of £104.95. You’ll also have to pay shipping on top of this.

Here’s the breakdown of what everything I received from Tabletop Tyrant costs, were you to buy everything individually from their site.

Wait, £101.40?

That’s £3.55 less than when using the Build Your Own option.

I genuinely did not realise the difference in price until after I had received the Dreadnought case from Tabletop Tyrant. I’d even written the entire review up to this section. Had I not decided to do a classic FauxHammer.com price breakdown table for this section, I might never have noticed at all.

As I said, the folks at Tabletop Tyrant sent me a voucher, so I didn’t spend any of my own hard-earned cash on this. However, if I had, I’d perhaps be a tiny little bit miffed to think I’d lost out on a few bob.

I reached out to the contact I had at Tabletop Tyrant to ask about this discrepancy. They confirmed this was an error on their part, but one caused by Covid. My contact gave me a very thorough answer.

“When we first listed all the products, all the prices were a match and [buying the foam and case separately was more expensive than buying the BYO], but in the last two years, we’ve had a lot of price rises. Container shortages (prices went up 600% and have not gone down), domestic lorry driver shortages (all delivery prices have gone up and we had to pay the port £2,000 to hold our delivery until we could get a driver), fuel, and energy rises. Plus both of the two foam manufacturers in Europe broke down, meaning Europe ran out of foam for two months [which made] foam prices spike. So, we put up prices and it looks like some of our empty cases and foam missed the last price rise.”

The tl;dr is that over the last few years the constantly changing costs of buying, shipping, and storing their product that have increased at an exponential rate. There have been further price rises recently, and their store hasn’t been able to keep up. They assured me that they would be looking into the issue shortly and will get things rectified My contact also confirmed that Build Your Own should always be cheaper than buying the parts individually.

This aside, though, Tabletop Tyrant offer so much in their range. From more cases like the Dreadnought but in variable sizes, to magnetic cases that’d look swish being produced on any D&D night, and more budget-conscious cardboard cases, there is something for everyone available, no matter your budget or interest.

Tabletop Tyrant – Dreadnought Backpack Figure Case Review – Final Thoughts

Before receiving the Tabletop Tyrant Dreadnought backpack, my only experience with miniature storage were twofold: my Ikea Kallax, and the Crystal Fortress review we ran last year.

(Well, threefold if you could the cardboard box full of takeaway boxes filled with unpainted miniatures in the garage. But we don’t talk about them.)

The Dreadnought blows both out of the water. In fact, I can’t imagine things getting much better than this

The design is simple but clever. Sure, everyone does the whole foam thing, but Tabletop Tyrant do it well. reinforced panels on all sides of the Dreadnought mean that your minis are safe from all but the hardest knocks. The various carrying methods – straps, handles, whatever you choose – makes the bag more accessible, as people can carry it however they are most comfortable doing so.

There are also pockets. Pockets for things.

Let’s not forget, it also looks good. It’s smart and unassuming, with a clean and well-executed design. You don’t have to feel self-conscious carrying this bag through the middle of town, or worry about getting awkward questions on the bus (“Ooh, ‘Citadel?’ Isn’t that them Warhammers? Them’s expensive, y’know…”) because nobody is going to look twice at it.

Not only is Tabletop Tyrant’s Dreadnought a masterclass in how miniature storage and transportation should be carried out, I’m fairly sure there are quite a few makers of everyday backpacks and other bags that could do with taking some notes on the Dreadnought.

What a singularly excellent piece of kit.

Just, uh, as a side note: if anyone knows anyone who needs any foam cubes and rectangles…

…I know a guy.

Please Note: This site uses affiliate links. Our Affiliate Partners are shown below
(Affiliate links will result in compensation to the site on qualifying purchases)

Click this link & buy your hobby stuff from Element Games for the UK & Europe to support FauxHammer.com – Use Code “FAUX2768” at the checkout for double reward points.

Our Affiliates / Hobby Stores

• UK: Element Games, The Outpost, Wayland Games, Mighty Lancer, Goblin Gaming, Forbidden Planet, Model Scenery Supplies, eBay, Amazon
• US/Canada: MTechCave, GameKastle, eBay (US), eBay (CA), Amazon
• Germany: Taschengelddieb
• Europe: eBay (DE), eBay (FR), eBay (ES), eBay (IT), Amazon
• Australia: eBay, Amazon
• Global: RedGrass Games, Warcolours

• 3D Printers: Phrozen 3D, Elegoo, Anycubic

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Summary

Reviewer

Rob Hebblethwaite

Review Date

Reviewed Item

Tabletop Tyrant - Dreadnought Backpack Figure Case

Author Rating

5

Product Name

Tabletop Tyrant - Dreadnought Backpack Figure Case