"Can anyone recommend a good glass wargames shelf/cabinet?" Topic

Hey all!

Well, the wife and I just bought a house, and I am beginning to plan out the wargames room!

I'll post more in the future when I have a nice picture and all, but for now I need to find some nice shelves for the miniatures!

I am looking for long, low cabinets with glass shelves and doors. Ideally they wouldn't be TOO too tall, but rather long.

Does anyone know of any manufacturer or maker who they particularly like?

Thanks!

Ikea?

I know this isn't what you want to hear, but… I recommend you don't do it.

We re-did our basement from scratch last year, and I got a gaming room out of the bargain. Since it doubles as my wife's pottery workshop, we agreed to store my hobby on one side of the room, and hers on the other. My initial thought was exactly the same as yours: tall shelves with glass or Lucite doors.

Immediately I ran into problems. First, the cost was just astronomical. (Maybe you're a great carpenter, but these were things we couldn't build ourselves.)

Second, the weight was substantial – glass is heavy, but the plastic alternatives bend and warp too easily.

Third, the storage wasn't practical. The figures will get dusty. You'll have to make the shelves deep enough (I was thinking 13") to hold substantial numbers, and yet you'll need enough space between levels so that you can reach in and grab the 33rd Rastafarian Voltigeurs from the back/left of the 2nd shelf… without snapping any flagpoles or snagging on any other figures. I found that that meant a vertical gap of at least 9" between the bottom of one shelf and the highest point of the figures on the shelf below it – not an efficient storage system!

So in the end I ditched the idea altogether for a more practical but less spectacular plain wall-mounted shelves that will simply stack the figures in their boxes. No display cases after all.

Consider Trophy Cases. That's what I use. A store that sells sports trophies will either have them or know where to get them.

I have to second I Fear the Wurst…

I'd really recommend maybe getting a small display case or 2 from Ikea (The Detolf, I think it is called) – which you can also get lights for – but we have some shelves for figures too, and the dust is pretty miserable. If I had to do it all over again, I'd go with shelves I can store boxesz of miniatures in (or foam, I've been using foam storage tray – and then rotate various units in and out of my display case.

*however* I have seen in wall glass shelving done, with doors that close and protect from dust – and a light across the top that looked really quite nice.

Ikea is pretty affordable. I don't have huge armies so I use wall-mounted Ikea CD cases that come with glass shelves and a glass door. I think they're $89 USD for a ten-shelf unit.

Skimming the posts, I originally thought this thread was about someone looking for a good gaming cabernet!

Hey all,

Well, I am thinking a shelf with doors, which is better than what I have now, which is a shelf with NO doors as far as dust, no?

I was thinking about the Ikea CD cabinets too actually… the thing is I know I'll have to move my wargame room in about six years, and so I thought maybe I could avoid anything that attached directly to the wall?

Anyway, more input would be VERY very very welcome!

link

This is what a friend of mine uses… I was hoping for long and low, rather than tall and thin tho.

Glass doors on a bookcase will work, but as others have said, not very practical because of all the wasted space. As long as the doors close tight, dust will not be a problem. If you travel a lot with your figures, storing figures in plastic boxes stacked on simple shelving is the way to go. If you do not travel, take a look at map storage cabinetry. These solve the problem of wasted space while keeping things organized. Here are some examples:
link

Check with the property disposal office of any local military bases. They periodically unload used ones for next to nothing.

Congrats on the wargames room, after seven years of marraige (and several years of sin before that) I final got my first wargames room and it's bloody great.
I bought a couple of Ikea glass cabinets a bit smaller than the sort of thing you'd see in a GW but glass all way around with the option to put lights in. My good display quality stuff goes in these. For the rest I had my dad, whose a bit of a dab hand with a sheet or two of MDF to custom build me a wargames table into which he built in a set of map draws I saved from a skip. Big thin shelves which happen to fit nine GW style foam trays in each, works great. Don't suppose any of that helps except to say look at the space under your gaming table maybe you could use those under bed storage boxes?

Cheers Jon

Hey!

Thanks for the advice… I am indeed building a custom wargames table, which will be a frame on top for 2 foot by 2 foot custom terrain boards to be fit in for a total table of 6x4. This will have a shelf under it which will actually be for terrain, with a nice curtain all the way around the edge to keep it hidden.

I'll post more on the overall room design when I get closer to move in (1st of February.)

Map drawers, eh? Hm. Honestly, I like them, but I really want to display what I have, you know?

Well if your rolling in money you could alway try these guys I think this might be what your looking for(?) but they ain't cheap

link

cheers Jon

I have one display case for the figs I'm most proud of (and playing with most actively). It was a $49.99 USD deal from Ikea: narrow glass case with a light mount and 4 shelves. The rest is in army transports or foam trays in storage. I may get a second, but I'm not planning on having all armies on display, just a few figures for 'flavor'.

Fear the Wurst is right The display cases are great for dioramas not for mass army storage. I use boxes and have a bunch of these:

link

They hang on the wall like a picture so are easily transported. Use it to show off specific units or great paint jobs. Besides, nobody will ever see anything below waist level anyway….

Oh, those look perfect. Hm. Thanks for the link!

Well, maybe not perfect as they are a little small… hm.

I have a Gemo display case very nice …custom sizes can be ordered .
gemodisplays.com

Oh that looks PERFECT. Can I ask how much yours was?

I have two of these cabinets for CDs and DVDs and bought a third for storing miniatures. Hope this link works. If not, just google on "cd dvd cabinet glass doors" and you'll find lots of choices.

link

Oh that looks nice too. A bit bulky, but still it might be good; the other ones are fantastic but the one I priced out was like $1,700. USD Yikers.

I got mine from this company, Domestications. Here's the link with color choices and prices. Sorry, couldn't find this link when I posted earlier.

link

This is what I have from Ikea

link

with a clear glass door very similar.

link

glass shelves:

link

I guess now that I look at it is was some money plus I put in 4 small lights to lite it, also from Ikea

If you value the paint job, and if there's any sunlight in the room, I'd do as others have and keep the miniatures in boxes.

I like the Army Transport foam trays those are stacked and organized.

Try "legal" or "barrister" bookcases. Glass doors that slide up and out of the way, and I've also seen them with shelves that slide out for easy access (on the more expensive versions). The shelves look tall, but allow easy sight of the contents. They are available at office supply stores, used office equipment retailers, or even Walmart. link

A friend has a glass cabinet where he stores and displays his minis. It's not an efficient way of storing them, but they do look fantastic! Perhaps a small cabinet for the best stuff, and lots of storage boxes for the rest?

Simon

We have a used store fixtures place in town. If you have something similar you may be able to come across a nice old store display case.

The room thankfully only has two windows, and neither of them are ANYWHERE near the miniatures; it is actually a somewhat dark room.

At this point I have to display the figures. Between them and a number of military antiques I have, plus some BEAUTIFUL period napoleonic prints, I plan to make this one pretty ass room:)

Any more suggestions? Some of these ideas ROCK.

BTW, if anyone here lives in northern NJ in the US and wants to game when I have it all set up, lemme know!

I use barrister bookcases with micro lights in them. I only have a few that I rotate what I have on display. Too many to put all of them out. I use to think I wanted Glass all the way for all my figures. Not now too much trouble. Put out some good stuff and rotate what you have on dispaly. Oh I got my legal bookcases at used furniture sales. I do not think I ever paid more then $20 USD each for three shelf unit.
VR
James Mattes

"Perhaps a small cabinet for the best stuff, and lots of storage boxes for the rest?"

That sounds pretty ideal actually. Just keep your current warfighters up, and the rest of the lots in storage.

Sam "Wurst" Mustafa games in Northern NJ. Maybe get with his group?

I have been studying exactly this problem for the past month, and made an extensive spreadsheet of dimensions and prices. My final choice is a brand-new Ikea model called 'Granemo' which is 63" wide, 68" tall, 16" deep, has glass doors which slide to the sides, and only $389. USD It wins over anything else for 'frontal square inches of glass per dollar' (only $0.10 USD per in sq). If "cubic inches of volume per dollar" is more important to you then check out Ikea's 'Aspvik', which is 20" deep, only 20" wide, and only $149 USD (only 2/3 of a penny per internal cubic inch).

The Granemo:

link

I know this might sound silly, but my fear is trying to get the figures out of the cabinet during a house fire. Now I can just grab my boxes. After getting out the kids of coarse.

I've been considering a cabinet too, good links guys, and would it be best with NO mirrored back or glass shelves? I'd think putting the figures on a piece of flocked felt would look good.

hi there!

A while ago I looked into display cases and stuff but ended up moving house instead and all my fancy ideas withered away… but found a lot of nice stuff through museum suppliers, i went through the museum association site initially (im in uk) and looked at sites from there.. there must be a fair few in the US.. some a wee bit expensive but very flexible size wise…

I really like vojvoda's idea of the barrister bookcase idea. You can take a regular bookcase and convert it using parts with which to make the front clear cover. You can make the front any size based on the bookshelf you already have. Here is a site that shows how to make the front part.

link

Rich

This is all good info for me, too, as I'm about to move into a new house with my own 10'x20' den. I'd like to be able to keep at least some of my minis out where i can see them. Kinda frustrating to paint up units and then stick them in a box where I can't see them.

I went to plastic drawers a while ago. They stack, I can cut the tab off the back to bring an entire drawer of figures to a game and they are relatively inexpensive and easily available. You can find them at most office supply stores (e.g. link And they go on sale frequently, so you can get them at a nice discount.

I must take pictures of minbe sometime – In my wargame room, I built my own shelves which wasn't all that expensive, using just pine board, which I painted. Just remember to "measure twice cut once" – despite running an estimating and projects section in a university, I got that rule backwards far too many times. 14 feet long by 8 feet high with the tops not at ceiling height and not covered so that large terrain pieces (hills, in my case, I don't use terrain boards) can be stacked, up and out of the way.

Instead of glass, I used plexiglass – far cheaper. plexiglass will yellow over a long time if exposed to sun light, but I have this in my basement and it's not a problem.

I included a run of shelves on the bottom for placing pieces of the "active game" that have hooks to hang shielding cloth so that force composition can be kept secret.

Another thing to keep in mind is look at rummage sales, garage sales and second hand stores – you'll be surprised what you can find, that, with a coat or two of paint, can really spice up your room and add a bit of pizzazz. My wife found a lighted revolving watch display case that was being tossed out by a jewelry store, which she fixed (she's a lot handier than I am) and now I have a corner with a revolving lighted display case that's perfect to hold my stands of infantry. Another time we found one of those rounded shelves you see as trim for a kitchen cabinet set that is now in the corner.

For drinks, dice, etc, consider, little shelves all over the place, but set up in such a way (corners are good) that don't get in the way – shelves everywhereon all sides will really cut down on gaming space.

It's a great project to do with a wife as patner can be fun as well- make sure you have a stud finder, and electric drill with screw driving bits, and a sharp quality hand saw as opposed to any power saw, is really sufficient. I used some scrap wood for extra shelves and used a coping saw to round the corners.