#14 How to, Malifaux, Stat Card Lamination

Malifaux, Stat Card Lamination

Introduction

Recently I began looking for a way to keep my Malifaux stat cards safe clean and whiteboard markable for the foreseeable future. I wanted a solution that was low effort, low price and repeatable.

 

Discussion

In discussions with friends card sleeves always seem to make an appearance. Having a background in Magic the Gathering, it seemed like the way to go, blow some cash on a nice set of transparent sleeves and that be the end of it.

Then I had a thought why not laminate the cards unlike magic there isn't a need to mask the cards or still have them flexible. Stiffness in the cards could be beneficial as I could mark them in the palm of my hand without bending them.

They gain good protection and I can be really lazy with them i.e. not putting the away neatly and not have them wrecked if I play with my kids. Win Win.

 

Starting Point

There's a video I found a while ago with a guy from 2012 laminating his Malifaux cards.

I don't want to take away anything from what he's achieved but looking from an outside perspective (i.e. Australia) we don't have access to all the exact items he used added to the fact I think the start cards might have changed since his days. So from him I learned, its possible to do and they don't turn out terrible.

My Research

After spending a little time reading up and getting some general info, the following would be useful to others. There are only a few things to worry about:

1. Paper size accepted, you can jam anything smaller in just not larger.
2. The pouch thickness seems to matter more than anything else, they will be rated at a max thickness, i.e. 125 microns, this is per side not total. Again anything smaller is fine.
3. You can jam a already heated pouch through multiple times and sometimes it will seal a little more.
4. Malifaux Card are 63.5mm X 89mm in size. Consequently so are the old Warmachine cards I own. Also the same size as the fate deck cards, including the promotional cards in the decks which is what I used for testing.
5. The thickness defines how stiff the the laminated product will be. 125 feels more like a credit card while 80 feels more like plastic paper.

 

What I Bought

After resolving that I was going to spend the bare minimum, I purchased the cheapest Laminator I could and hunted around to find the smallest pouches that fit the cards.

Laminator:

I honestly couldn't find anyone cheaper than Officeworks A4 $20, Kmart A4 came in close $29, If you want an A3 one go to BigW $30.

Pouches:
I hard a hard time hunting around to find the pouches. They exist online fairly easily to find, try searching "laminating pouches" on ebay.

I myself was already at Officeworks so picked up: These GBC Laminating Pouch 64 x 99mm 125micron Gloss 100 Pack they were just large enough and made me rather careful went setting them up, I've had good results but if you can find something a little larger I really would.

 

Cleanup

Due to them being "just large enough" I don't have to trim width wise, which is a massive bonus, I do clean up the length with a pair of scissor.

Conclusion

I'm happy how everything turned out. I do think the pouches would be a heap better at another 2-3mm width wise but I can live with them. Worst case I buy a new set of stat cards and buy some bigger pouches.

Would recommend.

8/10