Thanks to Army Case for sending me the new Carrier Backpack case for review. 

Previously I’ve reviewed Army Case’s massive Kane backpack case which is more than enough to transport nearly any army for any game. I’ve been using that case just about any time I go and play games, it continues to hold up well and I have yet to want more space.

But sometimes it’s actually much larger than I need. Some of the games and armies that I play simply don’t need that much space to be transported: Fyrelsayers in Age of Sigmar, Separatists in Star Wars Legion, or nearly any amount of ships for Kings of War Armada. So I was thrilled when A-Case let me know that there was a newer, smaller, backpack case coming out and asked me to review it: A-Case Carrier.

Assembly

This goes together exactly like the Kane does, just smaller. It comes flat packed and the skeleton is incredibly simple to put together. You slot in the sides and the back, and put the top on top. You do get pins that hold the bottom and top in place as well, just not pictured here, but they keep it all together very nicely. It’s nice and simple and very lightweight too while still feeling sturdy.

The bag itself has padded backpack straps, a handle on top, 2 surprisingly large pockets on the side and one large pocket on the front which is perfect for a binder or army books etc.

The trays themselves, just like the Kane case, have pins and rubber bands that hold the trays in place during transport. It takes all of 5 minutes to put these together and is very much worth the time to do!

What Can Fit?

The only thing that I wish I could fit in this, and can’t (barely), is a Star Wars Legion snail droid. The trays are every so slightly too narrow to fit the very long droid. It’s not really able to fit a Conquest army for The Last Argument of Kings but it could definitely fit a First Blood force if that’s your jam.

Otherwise the armies/models that I HAVE transported to/from games very successfully:

It can fit plenty of Titans for Titanicus for a 2,000 point (or even larger) force, enough Kings of War Armada for 2 players, and a Star Wars Legion Grand Army force of droids just without any tanks. I don’t own an AAT tank unfortunately yet so haven’t been able to try and fit that, however a Saber tank for Clones does fit for a point of reference; the snail tank really is just barely too long to fit.

Something to note is that there’s a space below the lowest spot you can fit a tray and that the frame itself is not magnetic. So that space isn’t for models but if you needed to could put things like Warscroll cards, tape measure, small format rulebooks, or whatever else if you would rather have the weight of those items at the bottom of your case instead of on either side in the pockets.

Travelling

One of the selling points of this thing though, really, is that it’s the right size for airlines’ personal item. Talking to A-Case about this the idea is that you can take the bag with you on your flight, not have to check it, and if you need a bit more space than this can hold you can also still carry on the Messenger sized bag too for a bit more space. Unless you’re transporting an incredibly niche army, or just a lot of larger models like Conquest, you’d be hard pressed to need more space travelling to an event.

I don’t fly to events, yet, but what I do do is take a lot of public transport. Travelling in/out/around London is thankfully pretty easy, normally. If I’m not going to something competitive I’ve been trying to write lists even to make sure it fits into this smaller case instead of needing to lug my Kane around just because it’s so much lighter and easier to get around with.

Obligatory side-on pic of me wearing this thing. You can see how much smaller this is compared to the Kane; I’m a tall 5’6″ for reference.

At multi-game events/days out the trays have been very useful in being able to keep the army I’m using together and moving from table to table without needing to repack and unpack every time. I recently took my droid army out for a one-day 3 game Star Wars Legion event, which didn’t exactly go my way in-game…

Verdict

It’s exactly what I expected after using and reviewing the Kane case. It’s good and solid, and I’ll definitely be getting a lot of use out of it. For larger armies or needing to transport multiple game systems I’m still making use of the big-brother Kane but for the majority of armies and games I play this has plenty of space. I love that magnetic trays means there’s not much in the way of unpacking or packing away before/after games.

I expect/hope to be travelling abroad for some US events either later this year or next year and will definitely be taking this when I do.

Have any questions or feedback? Drop us a note in the comments below or email us at contact@goonhammer.com.