How Do You Store All Those Minis?

[Flynn]

Good Morning, All:

My mini collection is quickly outgrowing my current shelving unit, and I feel like I need to figure out better storage and organization. With that in mind, I figure I should turn to the members of this forum and ask you guys a simple question: how do you store and organize your miniatures so you can still use them as needed?

Now's your chance to brag, so feel free to share photos as well.

Thanks In Advance,
Flynn

 

[diaglo]

and the caissons keep rollin' along.

diaglo "thousands of lead minis" Ooi

 

[kenobi65]

For my plastic minis, I've got three plastic shoeboxes that I bought at Container Store:
- One for Medium and smaller DDM
- One for Large and Huge DDM
- One for SWM

The drawback to this is that finding a particular miniature out of boxes 1 or 3 involves this highly sophisticated search routine:
1) Dump the box out on the bed
2) Grab a handful of minis
3) Inspect the handful to see if any of them are the mini I want
4) If "yes", set that mini aside
5) Dump handful back into the box
6) Repeat steps 1-5 until pile has been sorted through

For my metal minis, I've got several sectioned boxes from Chessex that work very well.

 

[Nifft]

I throw them all in a box, and sort through them manually when I need them.

Usually I can find whatever I need within 5 minutes (before a game); if I can't, I use something else.

Larger minis are easier to find, of course, so the Glabrezu never gives me any trouble -- though my players couldn't say the same thing.

Cheers, -- N

 

[Logos7]

I use a tackle Tote, Plano brand, after seeing someone do a simular thing

Modular Construction is your friend. Tackle Trays are customizable yet will hold more or less any mini of large size or less with a little rearrangement. In addittion you get a sholder strap, and side pouches which can be helpful for things like your larger minatures. Mine came with 4 trays and i only use three so i use the spare space for my larger dungeon tiles, and the front pouch for the smaller.

hope that helps

>

 

[Man in the Funny Hat]

Six portable cabinets for small parts hold the bulk of my collection. But, for the largest figures, believe it or not, I use a hard-sided rifle case.

 

[Draumr]

I use plastic stationery drawers for my plastic minis - these come in various shapes & sizes. I eventually settled on 3-drawer units that can stack. The drawers are see-through so I can easily spot what I want, and it is easy to remove one or two drawers to take them to the table when playing. It is important to get the right height of drawers - not too tall as to waste space, but tall enough to hold the bulk of the minis. [For my metal minis I have a massive 6'x4'x3' cabinet with 15 drawers per side - I'll need Diablo's truck to move this thing.]

Edit: Photo link added - Miniature figure storage

 

[Woas]

An old shoe box cause I'm a cheap
I purchased a big grab bag of WotC minis (it came with common and some uncommons I guess) on the net some time back. I use them just for placeholders for the most part so I treat them like pieces of plastic.

 

[pallandrome]

When not used in gaming, my wife keeps ours on a shelf display beneath a copy of Edvard Munch's "The Kiss", and backed by a pair of gold laced plates from Toledo. They are dimly lit by a pair of 15w bulbs sunken into the wood of the shelf. The shelf itself is a rich cherry color.

Those mini's are art, as long as they are displayed as such.

EDIT: bah, brain cramp. We actually display a copy of the original Kiss by Gustav Klimt. Munch is good, but Klimt makes the ladies swoon....

 

[Ilium]

My minis are all plastic.

I have 5 little plastic bins (about the size of a shoebox or a bit smaller) that used to be in my daughter's room for sorting toys. Four of them have the four DDM factions in them. The fifth is for my few other minis (Star Wars, some toys I stole from the kids and the DDM rulebook).