"Moving from London to Melbourne" Topic

Hi,

I'm looking for some advice in relocating a fairly large wargames collection from London to Melbourne later this year.

Does anyone have experience of doing this – in terms of reliable shipping companies; costs (probably for a 20' container); insurance valuations; packaging advice or anything else I should know about?

I've only visited Melbourne a couple of times so I don't really know my way around but my wife used to live there and has been looking at the St Kilda / Caulfield / Brighton area so any information on stores or clubs accessible from that part of town would also be most welcome.

Cheers

For packing in general, using a belts and suspenders system would be best. Figures in boxes, ideally magnetized to bottom of box, if not then I would construct liners or something to hold the figures into rows (and separate figure bases) on bottom of boxes. Then packing peanuts (is that what you Brits call those--the styrofoam packing pieces), to completely fill the spaces between figures and between bases of figures. Some people have used puffed rice to the same effect. Maybe try and pack smaller boxes inside bigger boxes.

I have never moved my collection, but I have bought and sold so much and sent figures to be painted overseas so often, that you get a feel for what works.

Congratulations on an excellent move. I nearly made it there a few years back, didn't come off I'm afraid. I hear there is quite an active wargaming community there.

Talk to Jon Sutherland at Wargames Holidays, he ships stuff back and forth to Crete every year.

wargameholidays.com

Oh and Don't do it….

Go to Sydney instead!

Get to Salute and have a chat with Nic from Eureka,

Tally Ho!

Seriously recommend wrapping figures individually. Then box them with plenty of extra padding in layers, then into solid boxes & not too much weight in each box.

There seems to be some sort of International competition between postal workers & container workers at who can do the most damage to the contents of a consignment without exploding the box. 'This end up' just doesn't enter into it.

Yes I migrated from Weymouth to Wollongong in 2009 and really went to town on protecting my miniaures and still had an entire fleet of 1:1200 Langtons crushed, and lots of missing books. My wifes piano base disappeared. Needless to say the insurance package we bought didn't recognize the value of any of these sorts of items, despite listing and valuing my models individually and agreeing a replacement value.

So my advice would be:
1. Don't bother with insurance – they won't pay and by the time you get legal advice to force their hand you've probably spent the replacement value anyway,
2. However much protection you afford you models – double it – think of a large truck reversing and driving over the packaging repeatedly…
3. Don't even think about bringing out any wooden items or natural scenery products – it will cost you twice their value to have them fumigated. (Even though the same product is commercially available and you can buy it from the UK online!

Good luck with the move – despite all the above its well worth it! And a thriving wargaming community out here…

Having moved cities a couple of times I have found the best method is to arrange my figures at the bottom of plastic tubs then fill the tubs to overfull with bean bag balls before securing the lid with packing tape. I then pack the tubs in removalists boxes surrounded by the wifes plethora of clothing.
Have done this successfully on a number of moves with little or no damage… Touch wood.
Have to go through the process again at the end of the year when I move from Melbourne to Adelaide.

Polystyrene beads (beanbag stuffing) are definitely the most effective fill: they will occupy all but the smallest voids, creating a solid mass that will permit minimal shift in transit and resist impact damage. However, unpacking will obviously be messy, so put a sheet down first to contain and retrieve them.

In regards to clubs, League of Ancients may be worth a look and would be very local to your new digs.

leagueofancients.org.au

I second League of Ancients.

I have never moved countries, so no experience of such things, but I was wondering, if you will have your own shipping container and can pack it yourselves, wouldn't that take care of a lot of the risk of having stuff packed by others? You still have the risk of a rough voyage (although the best packing in the world isn't going to help if your container falls off the ship in the Indian Ocean) and the tender mercies of our customs officers (although only a small fraction of containers are searched), but the containers themselves don't seem to be thrown around too muchotherwise.

Unless your existing house is in Chelsea or Belgravia, be prepared for a fright when you see the Melbourne real estate prices.

It is often thought that the name "Brighton" comes from the English town, but it is actually an Aboriginal dialect word meaning "bump the price up another million".

If you are looking in St Kilda, do your research (including having a look around the neighbourhood at night), as parts of St Kilda can be pretty raucous and it is home to much of Melbourne's street prostitute community and many of our friendly drug dealers. Most of St Kilda is fine, but make sure that you have a look around.

I've moved from Sydney to Singapore and then back again a few years later with many thousands of 15mm and 25mm figures and not had a problem if I filled in the boxes with peanut foam packed thickly around the figures and to fill up the spaces in the boxes making them solid. Then the boxes were packed inside larger wooden or plastic crates and it all moved fine. Melbourne has a very strong gaming community and the area you're talking about is roughly central.

There are movers who specialize in international/overseas transports, they pick up your stuff like a regular mover, but then pack everything in a container.

If you want you can hire a cargo surveyor who will make sure everything is properly packed, lashed and secured.

Personally I'd pack in secure plastic boxes that have some way of holding the minis, filled with poly beads, put everything in cardboard boxes, fill with chips and then put on pallets, wrapped in film and secured by extra straps inside the container.

Any shipping comes with a nominal insurance, but you best get separate insurance on top.

For shipping itself it's easiest to work through a Shipping Agent, they will take care of booking a slot on a ship, handle all the customs paperwork and all the other requirements. Shop around and don't be afraid to haggle the price.

Come to Darwin; we need more gamers! Melbourne is full of Victorians….

Also, not sure about the puffed rice as it may come a cropper with AQIS.

I have lots of 15mm HOTT armies, each in a small box – one or two armies per box. When we moved from the UK to Oz in 2008, I acquired two bin bags full of shredded documents from work, and packed every box with the stuff before taping them closed. Everything went, with all of our other stuff, in a 20' shipping container.

link

The figures moved in transit (no magna-base), but the paper meant that they didn't move rapidly or in a way that caused any damage.

My 1/1200th Napoleonic naval vessels, non magna-based in a cantilever toolbox, were packed the same way. I think I had to repair two masts upon their arrival in Oz three months later.

Here's some of our stuff. I guess Anglo-Pacific is the name of the company we used:

link

They were excellent – cleared our house in a couple of days quickly and efficiently. Everything arrived at the other end and I don't recall any breakages.

In regards to clubs, League of Ancients may be worth a look and would be very local to your new digs.

leagueofancients.org.au

I concur!

League is great, though don't dare play wargames with Lego. One chap did years ago, with rules for having bits blown off of Age of Sail ships. This displeased some Honourables present, and word is still occasionally heard of their enduring dismay.