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Hello all.

For some time I have been struggling now to keep my various armies organized. Of course I have them sorted by army, but then there is my pile of shame, various projects being built, minis in various states of painting, sorted in boxes in the gaming room, sorted in the army I last played, etc.
To put it short, I kept 'losing' models from time to time and it took away from my time hobby-ing.

I kept an Excel list with all my stuff, but when I moved units from their storage to the army box or somewhere else, it was always a hassle keeping it up to date.

I tried various home storage apps, but none seems to work proper for wargaming collections.

I now have a Memento Database, and it's working, but I'm still not that happy with it as options on the desktop program are locked behind a paywall, but are free in the app version. So you need to work with the app for some stuff instead of using it to only scan barcodes or make a quick change.

Is there really no app dedicated to managing wargame collections or am I missing something obvious?

What are you all using to keep track of your stuff?

I've never used a tool, but then I've generally a good mind for remembering most of what I've got and where I've mostly put it. I do forget things, but mostly only things that were in the box for years and years and years.

I think that if you're having trouble remembering what you've got and where it sounds a bit like your hobby space and storage needs reworking so that you've a clearer system. It sounds a bit ilke you've got stuff "all over the place" and perhaps packed into cramped and hard to access places. Ergo perhaps too much in too little space or lacking the proper organisation.


I think a bit part of being sorted isn't so much listing everything down but having easy clear storage and sections and then maintaining access to those sections.


For example I recently got one of those tall metal filing cabinet with the shallow trays that people use to store papers (making sure that the trays didn't have a hole in them since some do - I assume as part of a locking mechanism). I was then able to put loose contents of bits boxes as well as some models still on sprue into the trays. I've even put the plastic bags of sorted bits into trays as well. You can then put labels on the outside of what is in what in a rough manner or detailed.

Not only does it hold stuff, but its very easy to pull out a draw to check what is in what or to find stuff.

This gets stuff out of boxes and into draws that you can sort and organise clearly without having to use a separate app or excel sheet or such.



Then you can keep just complete sprues in their respective boxes. Now the boxes show what's inside and the filling system keeps everything else.

Get some ziplock bags and sort prepped and ready to prime minis, label if necessary; keep them in original box or stack them by army; keep painting so the pile of shame doesn’t grow.

Google spreadsheet for me.

I just use excel spread sheets.. Have used them in my work over the past few decades and just use to it.
But my 40k and warhammer stuff is to far gone to keep track of.
X-wing and Kill team I do keep sheet on because they are newer with shorter lists to work with.

Generally just keep track of what I have or want..
With X-wing I promised to keep expense to a minimum, so I keep a running total of cost.
But it still has information like faction type and other details.

There is also many times like on Board Game Geek where sometimes someone has already started a spread sheet.
That allows you to customize it to what you need with less data entry on your part.

I have a notes document on my phone for my pile of shame with varying degrees of progress beside the minis I have ranging from NIB, primed to almost complete.

I should probably take stock of what is actually complete though!

I don't think I ever had enough stuff to warrant inventory management. Generally speaking I try to keep my stuff down to manageable level as I despise hoarding.

I'm always rotating out armies so I never have more than 2 or so. In terms of recording what bits or random models I have? heh no. I just try and keep everything cut down to a handful of boxes with bags

I think this is more symptomatic of how you organize your stuff in general.

Rather than keep track of individual miniatures/collections, designate a space for where you keep your miniatures, period. Maybe a part of your closet/storage unit with a few boxes, or a shelf/cabinet where you have your armies displayed, with whatever boxes/crates/cases you use for transporting kept in the same area.

From there, you make sure your collections are organized onto shelves or boxes. For example, my cabinet has a shelf for each army (Nighthaunt, Necrons, Lamenters, Showpieces, and a bottom shelf for plinthes, unopened busts/collector pieces, etc.). Beside my cabinet is where I hobby and under my desk is where I keep my TableWar cases stacked. I usually keep sections of each of my playable armies in those cases (so my 2000 pt LoG army is permanently kept in one of my TableWar cases as it's the one I play most often), and thankfully because I'm now focusing on skirmish games (DCU and Infinity), I keep those in my TW Mini case for easy transport/hobby.

Basically, organize your collection and then keep it all together, only taking out/transporting what you're going to use immediately and then ensuring you return them to the same area/space after you're done with it.

If you have an enormous collection, perhaps consider Kondo-ing a bunch if you realistically don't expect to get to them within the next year or two so it's less clutter and distraction, or if you absolutely must, invest in some additional storage space and organize your stuff into labelled boxes that you don't dip into often (organization only works if you keep with a system, so ideally stuff in long-term storage is pulled you use and phased into your above short-term storage area. If you keep putting and pulling stuff into and out of your long-term storage, it's not really long-term.

If you have an iOS device, MyStuff2 Pro is a decent general inventory app. Setting up the database can be a bit of work (defining what fields you care about, the categories, etc) but I like that it's a versatile app that can track both my miniatures and my other valuables. Haven't poked at the barcode lookups in a while, but generally if an item is listed on Amazon you can map the fields for a category and just scan the barcode on the box and it'll pop in most of it. Quite handy. Quick backups to Google/iCloud also makes it useful for insurance if something horrible happens to have make/model/serial of major appliances and such (because everyone should have a general home inventory as well as a hobby one).

Obviously if you don't have such a device it's less useful, but if you do it's worth a poke in my opinion.

I actually complete a unit and then army before going on the next one...... crazy I know!

@ OP:

You don't need an Excel sheet but a glass cabinet.