Every wargamer's hobby space drifts toward the same chaos: a mountain of unbuilt kits, paints in three different containers, a bits box you're scared of, and finished models stuffed wherever they fit. Organisation isn't about tidiness for its own sake — a sorted hobby is one you actually use. Disorganised hobbyists paint less, because every session starts with twenty minutes of finding things.
The three-pile system
Everything you own is in one of three states, and each needs different storage:
- Not started — unbuilt kits and grey plastic. Needs dense, dark, dry storage.
- In progress — the models on and around your desk. Needs protection plus accessibility.
- Finished — painted, varnished, done. Needs display, not storage. More on this below, because it's where most systems fail.
Pile one: taming the backlog
Keep unbuilt kits in their boxes, stacked spine-out like books so you can read what you own. Two rules that genuinely help: write the purchase month on the box end (the dates get embarrassing, which is the point), and keep a simple one-line list — kit, game, priority. When the list is visible, impulse purchases drop and abandoned projects get finished. A backlog you can see is a plan; a backlog in a cupboard is a guilt generator. You're in good company, too: the 2023 Great Wargaming Survey found almost 41% of wargamers have between 100 and 500 unpainted miniatures, and around 18% have more than 1,000 — so a system to keep the pile visible and manageable is a near-universal need.
Pile two: the working desk
Paint storage
Paint organisation has one job: you should be able to find any pot in five seconds, with the label visible. Tiered paint racks beat drawers (you see every pot at once) and beat carousels in small spaces. Sort by function — basecoats, layers, washes, technical — rather than by colour; that mirrors how you actually paint. Cull dried pots quarterly, and keep a note of staples to rebuy. If desk space is tight, our desk organiser guide and our post on building a hobby space in a flat cover compact setups in detail.
Bases and bits
The bits box of doom is solved with one cheap purchase: a compartment organiser (the kind sold for screws and fishing tackle). One row per base size — 25mm, 28mm, 32mm, 40mm, 50mm+ — then compartments for weapons, heads, shoulder pads and “genuinely useful scrap”. Label the compartments. When bases are sorted by size, you also discover what you're short of before a project stalls.
Work in progress
Half-painted models are the most fragile things you own — wet paint, unvarnished, constantly handled. A simple tray or shallow box keeps a project together (model, bits, basing materials, recipe notes), stackable when life interrupts. Write the paint recipe on a card in the tray; “what was that gold?” has killed more army projects than boredom has.
Pile three: finished models deserve display, not storage
Here's the trap: most hobbyists store finished models in the same foam trays they use for transport. Foam is brilliant for travel and terrible as a home — it hides your best work, rubs varnish on every insertion, and slowly fills with shed paint flecks. Worse, it breaks the motivation loop: when finished models vanish into a case, the reward for finishing disappears with them.
Treat display as the storage tier for finished work:
- Tiered display stands hold a full squad in stadium-style rows, so every model stays visible — on a desk shelf, bookcase or cabinet. Modular systems like WarSplay® grow row by row as your painted pile grows, and support 25mm–100mm bases — compatible with Warhammer 40,000® miniatures and other popular 28mm–40mm tabletop systems.
- Glass cabinets add dust protection; tiered risers double or triple visible capacity per shelf — see our cabinet riser guide.
- Magnetised bases bridge display and transport: models lift straight from display stand to steel-lined case with no foam. Our magnet guide covers sizes; the display-to-transport system shows the full workflow.
A 30-minute monthly reset
- Return strays to their pile (5 min).
- Cull dried paints, note rebuys (5 min).
- File loose bits into the organiser (10 min).
- Dust the display with a soft brush (5 min) — routine in our dust care guide.
- Update the backlog list (5 min).
Frequently asked questions
What's the best way to store painted miniatures long-term?
On display, varnished, out of direct sunlight — ideally on tiered stands inside a standard glass cabinet. Foam trays are for transport. If you must box models long-term, magnetised bases on steel sheet beat foam for paint preservation.
How do I organise miniatures by army?
One display stand (or row) per squad mirrors how you field them — it makes list-building visual and packing for game night instant. Keep each army's display zone together rather than sorting by model type.
How should I store spare bases?
Compartment organiser, one slot per size, labelled. Sort round and square separately — mixed-base systems make this worth the extra two minutes.
WarSplay® is an independent UK brand of Blubbercove Ltd. Trademarks are used for compatibility description only; see the disclaimer in our site footer.