What's the Best Way to Store a Planet Apocalypse Collection?
Sort your Planet Apocalypse collection into four groups: the core box (heroes, demon troops, tiles, dice), individually boxed Demon Lords and Ladies, terrain and the Demon Gate, and the big narrative expansions like Pack of the Pit and Power Pack. Keep each Lord's tokens in its own box. That's what turns game night setup into a two-minute job rather than a scavenger hunt.
What's Actually in a Full Planet Apocalypse Collection?
Planet Apocalypse is a cooperative game for 1-5 players designed by Sandy Petersen, with art by Keith Thompson. The core box centers on a small team of heroes closing Hell's invasion portals against waves of demons, with modular map tiles, a custom dice system, and 200-plus cards for abilities and equipment.
Beyond the core box, the catalog splits into a handful of clearly different product types. Demon Lord and Lady expansions add individually named boss figures. The Demon Gate and Relic Pack upgrade specific physical components. Combat Dice Pack and Alternate Combat Dice Pack add more dice in blue and red. Pack of the Pit and Power Pack are large expansions that each bundle new maps, Fourth Circle demons, Lords, heroes, and troopers into one box. The catalog also includes a Graphic Novel and a 5e RPG sourcebook, both print products rather than board game components. Treating these as one undifferentiated pile of "game stuff" is exactly what makes a collection hard to organize later.
How Do You Sort the Demon Lords and Ladies?
Each Demon Lord is its own animal. Literally.
Lord 1 - Jabootu, Lord 3 - Asmod, Lord 4 - Procrustes, Lord 5 - Pulgasaur, Lord 6 - Great Cthulhu, Lord 7 - Spider Mastermind, and Lady 2 - Scylla are each sold as separate expansions, priced individually between $24.99 and $29.99. That pricing structure matters for storage because each one ships with tokens and rules built specifically for that fight. Scylla's six heads have to be tracked and destroyed separately during combat. Great Cthulhu comes with 20 sanity tokens that only apply when he's on the table. Asmod's power is about taking over individual heroes, which needs its own tracking pieces.
If you dump all seven Lord boxes into one bin, you'll spend the first ten minutes of game night hunting for which six tokens belong to Scylla and which twenty belong to Great Cthulhu. Keep each Lord sealed in its own labeled box, sandwich bag, or small parts drawer. It takes one extra minute at teardown and saves a lot more than that at setup.
How Should You Separate Demon Troops from Named Enemies?
This is the entity-class distinction that trips up a lot of new collectors: Demon Lords are not the same thing as demon troops.
The core game description frames it directly. You "battle demons from the circles of hell" on your way to the demon lord fight itself. Troops are the rank-and-file miniatures you fight through on the way to a boss encounter. Lords are the named, individually boxed bosses described above. Expansions like Pack of the Pit and Power Pack add more Fourth Circle demon troops (plus their own new Lords, heroes, and troopers) tied to specific later maps in the game's story, running from Rome and the US capital through Purgatory and the Inferno.
Store troop miniatures together, separate from the Lords, and where possible grouped by which expansion or story chapter they belong to. That way, when you're only playing an early-game session, you're not also unpacking every Fourth Circle troop from the endgame expansions.
What's the Best Way to Store Terrain and the Demon Gate?
Terrain in Planet Apocalypse is modular by design, which is a storage advantage if you set it up right and a mess if you don't.
The core box includes modular map tiles meant to be laid out in different combinations for different sessions. The Demon Gate is a sold-separately upgrade that replaces the core game's cardboard portal tile with a sculpted piece. Keep these together, stored flat rather than stacked upright, so tiles don't warp and the Demon Gate doesn't get crushed under heavier boxes. A shallow, wide bin or a dedicated shelf works better here than a deep tote where terrain ends up buried under Lord boxes and expansions.
The Relic Pack is a related but distinct item: 28 plastic miniatures that replace various punchboard tiles and tokens with sculpted pieces. It's a component upgrade, not a new terrain set, so store it next to the core box components it's meant to replace rather than off with the Lords.
Where Do the Dice, Cards, and Small Parts Go?
Small parts are where collections quietly fall apart over time.
The Combat Dice Pack (blue, matching the core game) and Alternate Combat Dice Pack (red) each add 30 dice. Keep dice pouched by color and set, not mixed loose, so you always know which pool belongs to which expansion. The same logic applies to the small 3mm punchboard upgrade parts sold for specific Lords: they only make sense paired with the Lord box they upgrade, so store them together rather than in a catch-all parts tray. Cards deserve their own division too. With 200-plus cards in the core box alone, plus more from each big-box expansion, sorting by deck type (ability, equipment, encounter) before you box them saves real time at the table later.
Storage-insert specialists like Broken Token build their entire business around this principle: games with dozens of small, similar-looking components hold up better long-term when every part has one designated home, rather than a single shared catch-all bag.
How Do You Set Up for Game Night Quickly?
Fast setup starts at teardown, not at setup.
When you finish a session, put pieces back into their labeled homes immediately rather than sweeping everything into one box "for now." Before your next game night, decide which map and which Lord you're running, then pull only those pieces plus your sorted troop minis into a single tray or tote. That's the entire prep step if your collection is already organized by category. If it isn't, expect to spend real time re-sorting Lords, troops, and terrain before you can even start.
General miniature-hobby guidance backs this up as standard practice rather than something specific to one publisher. The Wikipedia entry on miniature wargaming notes that separating figures by faction or unit type is common practice among collectors specifically because it speeds up game preparation and reduces wear on painted pieces from repeated handling.
Where to Find Everything for Your Planet Apocalypse Collection
Planet Apocalypse carries a solid community following on BoardGameGeek, where it's listed as a cooperative game with tower-defense and roleplaying elements, a fair description of how the core loop actually plays out at the table. If you're filling gaps in your collection, whether that's a specific Demon Lord, the Demon Gate, or one of the big-box expansions, the full Planet Apocalypse collection page on the Petersen Games site lists what's currently available. In-stock orders process within 48 hours, and US orders ship via USPS Ground Advantage, typically arriving in 2 to 5 business days after that (Canada ships DHL Ground, 3 to 7 business days). Shipping rates are calculated at checkout.
A well-organized collection is worth more than a full one. Sort it once by category, and every game night after that gets easier rather than harder.
Frequently Asked Questions
What's the best container for organizing Planet Apocalypse?
Stackable plastic bins or a divided tackle-box-style organizer both work well because Planet Apocalypse mixes small tokens, dice, cards, and larger sculpted figures. The main goal is separation by category (heroes, troops, Lords, terrain) rather than any specific brand of container.
Should I keep each Demon Lord expansion in its own box?
Yes. Each Lord or Lady, such as Lady 2 - Scylla or Lord 6 - Great Cthulhu, comes with tokens built for that specific fight (Scylla's six heads, Great Cthulhu's 20 sanity tokens). Mixing those parts into a shared bin makes it easy to lose the pieces a given boss fight actually needs.
Do the Pack of the Pit and Power Pack need to stay separate from each other?
It helps to keep them apart. Pack of the Pit continues the story in Rome and the US capital, while Power Pack covers the later maps in Purgatory and the Inferno. Each bundles its own Fourth Circle demons, Lords, heroes, and troopers, so storing them as separate units keeps the narrative chapters intact.
How do I set up Planet Apocalypse quickly for game night?
Pre-sort your collection by category ahead of time (core box, Lords, terrain, troops) so on game night you only need to pull the specific Lord and map tiles you're playing that session, instead of digging through one large mixed box.
Can I store Planet Apocalypse and Cthulhu Wars miniatures in the same bin?
Keep them in separate bins. They are different games with different scales of figures and component sets, and mixing the two makes setup slower for both. Store them near each other on the shelf if you like, but sort the parts separately.
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