So... I'm new to this hobby. Not because I enjoy games that are already proclaimed dead by some but because a shop had a sale, the game and its rules seemed great and I just felt like treating myself something nice for Christmas.
However, what seemed really weird to me is how hard it was to get fitting sleeve sheets to store cards in binders, especially for us European A4 binder folks.
So, the odyssey started with Eric Taylor's "peripherals" article on "cannot get your ship out". He recommended regular trading card sheets for squad cards, BCW 8 pocket pages for a combination of ship and upgrade cards and BCW 16 pocket pages for more upgrades.
Now, the issues...
- These are all American style three-hole small sheets and won't fit in European DIN/ISO binders.
- BCW offers larger versions of these with more holes and it seems that even the small ones come with more punch holes to fit European binders, but they're all out of print.
- Similar stuff, like the 32 pocket sheet, is out of print as well.
- Postcard sized pockets (A6) are too big for ship cards and seem like a waste of space.
- Same issue for American mini cards (ie the upgrades) in standard sized pockets.
So... I ordered some sheets for trading cards with the expectation that (as I read somewhere) the tarot sized and mini sized cards were all dropped in favour of standard sized cards, but with the first ship that arrived at my doorstep I got a lot of small upgrade cards, two large ship cards and no standard sized cards, so there I was, again looking for fitting sheets.
Long story short: I haven't found any for individual cards but I'm now quite happy with sleeves that are meant for stamp, coin and cash collectors. Essentially, they just offer long, horizontal pockets which can be loaded from the top, which works well for any number of cards. I got some "Leuchtturm Grande" sheets which have a much better quality than those no name Chinese amazon sheets (at least those that I tried and returned).
Those work beautifully for 5 mini cards or three tarot sized ship cards side-by-side without wasting too much space. The black ones can be loaded from both sides (front and back), so a single sheet gives you space for 40 upgrade cards or 12 ship cards. I also think pulling them out is quite convenient, as the missing vertical separators make it easy to just get into a pocket with your fingers.