The Best Miniature Transport and Storage Cases

What we judged these on

A miniature case is not a general-purpose box with foam in it. The failure modes are specific, and so are the things worth paying for. Four criteria decided this ranking, and every pick below is scored against them.

Protection. Not just impact. The damage that actually happens to painted models is rarely a dropped case — it is a spear snapped against a slot wall, a banner bent by foam compressed over it, and paint worn thin on a shoulder pad after twenty trips. A case that scores well here isolates each model and does not rub.

Capacity for the money. Measured against what a real army costs to move, including the one oversized model every army has. Cases that only quote an infantry count are hiding the vehicle problem.

Flexibility. Armies change. A case whose layout is permanently plucked into one list is a case that becomes scrap when the codex changes. Adjustable, swappable and reconfigurable layouts score higher than pre-cut ones that fit today perfectly.

Value. What it costs against the realistic alternative, including the accessories you will inevitably buy afterwards. A cheap shell with expensive mandatory trays is not cheap.

One thing deliberately excluded: looks. Display cabinets are a different product solving a different problem, and a case that travels well is usually a case that looks like luggage.

Foam or magnets: the real fork in the road

Almost every case on the market is one of two systems, and choosing between them matters more than choosing between brands.

Foam holds models in cut or plucked pockets. It is cheap, it works immediately with no preparation, and it tolerates any model you can cut a hole for. The cost is contact: foam touches the whole model, and over many trips it abrades paint on raised edges and bends or snaps thin parts. Pre-cut trays are faster and neater; pluck foam is infinitely adjustable but a plucked hole is permanent.

Magnetic trays hold models upright on steel shelves by magnets fitted in the base. Nothing touches the model above the base, so nothing rubs and nothing bends. That is a genuine, permanent solution to the problem foam only mitigates. The cost is the preparation: every base in the army needs a magnet or a steel washer glued in before the case is worth anything, and that is an evening of work before your first trip.

The honest rule: if your army is mostly infantry with chunky silhouettes, foam is fine and cheaper. If your army is Eldar, Tyranids, Stormcast or anything with banners, antennae and spears, magnets will pay for themselves in repairs you do not have to do. The method for both — including the varnish-first rule that makes either survivable — is in how to store and transport miniatures.

The picks, in order

Scores below are our editorial read against the four criteria above. We have not tested these cases in a lab; the specifications are from the manufacturers and the retailers listed in the sources, and the judgments are about how each design handles the failure modes this category actually has.

1. The all-round case: pre-cut foam in a padded shell

The ENHANCE travel case is the one to buy if you are buying your first. Three trays of 36 pre-cut slots — 108 infantry, which is roughly where a 1,000 to 1,500 point force lands — inside a padded nylon shell with a water-resistant base and a shoulder strap. Slots are 1.97 by 0.98 by 0.98 inches, which fits a standard 28 mm infantry model with a little room and does not fit anything wider.

That last point is the honest limitation and it is worth being clear about: this is an infantry case. A Dreadnought, a tank or a large monster is not going in it. If your army is an infantry horde with one character you can carry separately, that does not matter. If it is a vehicle list, you want the next pick.

2. The tournament bag: Battle Foam P.A.C.K. 352

The standard at any event, and for good reason. The shell is 13.5 by 9.5 by 17 inches and holds 14.5 inches of Battle Foam Small trays on an 11.5 by 7.75 inch footprint, in depths from one inch to three and a half. That depth range is the whole argument: a Knight and a squad of guardsmen travel in the same bag because you simply put a deeper tray under the tall one.

Load outs ship in pluck, pre-cut, army-specific and Magna Rack magnetic configurations, and the MOLLE webbing on the outside takes dice bags and rule books. It is also the most expensive answer here before you have bought a single extra tray, and extra trays are where the money really goes. Buy it when you are going to events, not when you are thinking about it.

3. The hard shell: CASEMATIX

Around 16 by 13 by 6 inches, roughly 4.2 pounds empty, rigid plastic with latches, and a stack of foam trays with pre-cut 25-28 mm slots over a pluck layer at the bottom. The mixed layout is smart — the pre-cut trays take the rank and file, the pluck layer takes the one awkwardly shaped model every army has.

A rigid shell is the only thing that survives being stacked under other gear or thrown in a car trunk, and if your models travel in a boot rather than on your shoulder that matters more than any foam design. It is heavier and bulkier than a soft bag of the same capacity, and the hard shell does nothing about foam rub — the thin parts still wear.

4. The magnetic system: steel trays

Feldherr magnetic cases and Battle Foam's Magna Rack are the two mainstream versions, and they solve the problem the other picks only manage. Powder-coated steel shelves slide into the case, models stand on them held by magnets in their bases, and nothing touches the model. Twenty trips later the banner is still straight and the edge highlights are still there.

Two honest warnings. The first is the preparation: every base needs a magnet or a steel washer, and on an existing painted army that is a careful evening with a drill and superglue. The second is less talked about — a hard knock can shear a model off its magnet, and the model then rattles loose inside the case. Foam would have caught it. Magnets protect against the slow damage, not the dramatic kind.

5. The budget protection: a generic pluck-foam case

Layers of pre-cubed foam in a hard shell or padded bag. You tear out pockets to fit your own models, which means it fits anything, including the models no pre-cut tray will take. For a fraction of the branded price it does most of the job.

The compromises are real. A plucked pocket is permanent, so a layout mistake costs you that layer. The foam quality is usually lower than the branded trays, which means more abrasion and faster compression. And the shells vary enormously between sellers, so you are buying on review quality rather than a known product. Still the best protection per dollar on this page.

6. The skirmish answer: a Plano StowAway 3600

A fishing tackle box, and a better warband case than most things sold as warband cases. 10.88 by 7.25 by 1.75 inches, a transparent latching lid, and rigid dividers that set anywhere from 3 to 39 compartments. For a ten-model Kill Team or a Warcry warband it is the right shape, the right weight and roughly the price of a single box of models.

Line the compartments with craft foam or felt before you use it — bare plastic chips paint. And note the depth: 1.75 inches internal rules out anything tall, so banners and large monsters are out. It is a slim box for small models, and within that brief nothing else is close on value.

7. Home storage: clear stackable boxes

The last pick is not a transport case at all, and including it is deliberate, because most of an army's life is spent not traveling. A 4 liter Really Useful Box — clear polypropylene, clip-down lid, stackable — holds roughly a squad and lets you see which squad it is without opening it.

There is no padding, so models rattle unless you line it or add a magnetic sheet. It is not a travel solution and one corner knock in a car will topple the shelf. But six of these on a shelf is how an army collection should live between games, and it costs a tenth of what a case does. Where they sit in a bench layout is covered in the painting station setup.

Three things to do before the case arrives

Varnish the army. A case protects against impact; varnish protects against abrasion, and abrasion is what actually strips paint in transport. An unvarnished army in a foam case will lose edge highlights whatever you spend. Matte, satin or gloss covers which finish to use.

Measure the tallest model, not the average one. Case capacity is quoted in infantry, and infantry is never the problem. The tray depth you need is set by the one converted character with a banner.

Decide if you are magnetizing before you buy foam. These two paths do not merge later without buying twice. If an Eldar or Tyranid army is in your future, magnetize from the start.

The verdict

Buy the pre-cut foam case in a padded shell if this is your first army and your models are infantry. Buy the tournament bag if you are actually going to tournaments and your list has vehicles. Buy magnetic trays if your army has thin, fragile silhouettes and you are prepared to spend an evening fitting magnets.

And if the budget is tight, a generic pluck-foam case plus a stack of clear boxes at home gets you ninety percent of the protection for a quarter of the money. That is the honest recommendation for most people, and nobody selling cases makes it.