Guild Academies of Valeria – Storage Solution from Folded Space

Sometimes you just have to get on top of things right at the outset rather than waiting for things to settle down.

That can also be the case with storage solutions for board games!

Ok, probably not all the time, but in this case it is.

Hell, I haven’t even really talked about Guild Academies of Valeria, from Daily Magic Games, much yet! Sure, I mentioned it in my OrcaCon post, but the more detailed discussion will be in the New to Me Games – January post coming in early February.

Unless I happen to play it enough to review it first.

Even with all that, though, I now have bought and put together the Folded Space insert for it.

I’ll talk more about it below, but spoiler alert: this is probably the best Folded Space insert I’ve bought so far.

Even though it was one of the more challenging ones too!

How does that go together?

Let’s take a look.

As usual, the Folded Space insert comes in a series of Evacore (a kind of memory foam) sheets with the pieces already cut, ready to punch out.

In this case, there are four (only two shown here).

Just looking at the graphics on the trays enhances the game. I’m glad that they are moving more towards that and less toward the standard grey model (at least on the ones I’ve put together so far).

You will need to assemble all of the trays, but the only thing you will need is some Elmer’s Glue (which I have) and a steady hand (which I don’t have, but I managed).

The trays fit perfectly within the box, though there is a little wiggle room for some of the tile trays due to the pieces of the big bag-holding area sticking out a bit.

When I say that, I’m speaking about the two trays with the green tiles.

It’s not much, of course, and it doesn’t matter at all. The trays are unlikely to move around.

(What’s that little baggie in the big tray? Those are all of the extra player pieces that Daily Magic mistakenly provided that are not needed, and they don’t actually fit in the player piece trays! Which isn’t Folded Space’s fault, of course, as the trays were designed for what should actually be in the game).

The favor tiles and the monuments fit perfectly in the tray next to the tiles, and the tile trays are well-sized to fit all of the different classroom and prestige tiles.

The four player piece trays stack neatly at the end of the box, two layers deep.

They hold everything you need (except the extra stuff, as mentioned) and it all works great!

What was the hardest thing to put together, that almost drove me mad?

The card tray that holds the Quest cards, the Solo cards, and the player aids.

As you can see, it’s staggered, requiring multiple pieces to be fitted together with two different binding pieces at the bottom (you can’t see those). They’re also uneven height (to make room for the board on one side and because the Quest cards are smaller) so you have to make sure everything lines up.

And then gluing those pieces together without making a mess?

I’m sure some people would find that easy, but I found it kind of difficult!

But I managed.

And it looks great.

Underneath the favor/monument tray and all of the player piece trays is the tray for the dice and professors in the game.

You could put them in the bags and they will fit perfectly in the bag spot, but I don’t see the point of that.

First, then this tray would appear to be useless?

Secondly, that means when setting up the game for fewer than 4 players, you would need to dump out both bags and remove the pieces you need to remove.

Better to just take them from this tray and load the bags.

The dice look like they would move and bounce around a lot, don’t they?

With the other trays on top, and then even more going right up to the box lid, those dice aren’t going anywhere.

They are all loose so they will move around inside of their trays. If you shake the box, they will make noise!

But they won’t be scattered to the seven winds within the box.

The board fits in the indentation like it was made for it.

I was momentarily confused about what to do with the player boards that come in two puzzle pieces that you combine, but I did figure that out (and of course, looking on the Folded Space page, they actually tell you how to do it there).

You actually assemble them and put them on top of everything (stacked two high)!

This, plus the rulebooks, takes it right up to the box lid, meaning there is not only no lid lift, but you can store the game upright and nothing will move (other than the dice and professors within their own trays, of course).

This has to be the tightest fit I’ve seen in the five Folded Space inserts I’ve done so far.

It just holds everything perfectly.

As is usual, almost all of the trays can be pulled out of the box to be used when playing the game, which is always handy.

Just make sure you glue everything together when assembling the trays, and let them sit overnight before packing up the game.

Also, while I have taken some shortcuts previously when doing a Folded Space insert, I can’t emphasize enough the suggestion that you put each tray together with all of its pieces before then taking it apart to apply the glue.

You will get a much better visual of how all of the pieces go together.

I won’t give my opinion on the game itself here (that will be coming!), but my opinion of the insert?

Folded Space has knocked this one out of the park.

Between the graphics on the trays, the ease of assembly, and the instructions on how to put everything together, this one just came through.

I can’t wait to actually play the game again with using these trays.