"Do you keep an inventory of your miniatures?" Topic

1) Yes, and I update it weekly. Separated into untouched, primed, one color, half-painted, just needing flocking on the bases, ready to play…

2) I keep it all in my head! I don' need no stinkin' inventory!

3) Goodness gracious no! I would be terrified to know how much I have!

No I don't but I'm thinking of doing one and including a guide price for resale, thinking ahead incase the family needs to dispose of the collection

4) Only a partial one and it is a great regret that I don't have a full one. If I ever get a free week and really want to torture myself I will produce such a thing. Then I will surely fall into the pit of despair, that abyss upon whose edge I feel, already, that I am teetering on.

Yes, but I don't update it weekly.
Just whenever I make a purchase, it goes onto the list before I put it where it belongs.

Sort of. I have about 6 spreadsheets which I started at various times. They overlap and are all incomplete. Im not very organized.

Al

Partial spreadsheet with tabs per genre (SYW, ACW, Nap,WWII, etc). I do my best to keep track of what I have painted (Unit IDs where appropriate). Also try to keep track of unpainted lead in case I need to build more units.

Do I keep it up to date? You've got to be crazy! Only a nerd would do that. (my wife insists that only a nerd would have spreadsheets for his toys…but what does she know?)

I keep it all in my head…even though it is an extensive collection.

I do keep inventory on on small portion of my collection…Star Wars miniatures. I am often confused between very similar characters and which I own.

#2. I also know the approximate location of most of my collection too (which is probably fairly large).

Damon.

inventory = wife-viewable paper trail

No. I'm not that anal

No inventory, however, it could be a good idea at this point!

I probably should for insurance purposes but it is very unlikely that I would ever be that organized.

1 Yes – I have an Excel sheet with several pages to record what I want, what I have ordered, received, built and painted.

It is a good idea.
It helps you prevent a lead mountain, or recover from one.

Now I buy things and paint them almost as soon as they arrive.
It is good fun to paint the latest releases.

That way, I can play them whilst I am still interested in the topic…

Mick

Professionally I'm a librarian. So of course there is an inventory. But it is also relevent/necessary from the standpoint of home owners insurance and the special rider.

With digital cameras, it's easy to keep a photo-catalogue of what you have. :)

2) Don't need no stinkin' inventory!

Keep it in my head – the closest I have is that I have index cards with unit stats for my Warhammer Fantasy and 40K armies

I have excel spreadsheets for various periods. I started them to keep me from buying things I already have.

No – that would require organization.

Wot Connard sed

I do. And the most useful part is I keep a list of the figures I need to complete my collection, prioritized – that has really helped me keep my expenses down, I don't buy anything unless it is on the list. No more impulse buys, I concentrate on the ones I really need. I even budget each month to buy those so I can gradually whittle down the list – I do allow myself to splurge occasionally on an impulse buy (like for Christmas, my birthday, etc.)but I have probably cut my monthly expenses on miniatures by about 60%.

Impossible task at this point.
I will leave it to future generations of historians to decipher.
Probably faster that way.

An organized inventory would steal from me those priceless moments when I dig into a box in my storage closet and "discover" long forgotten figures awaiting painting. I then say to myself "Hmmmm, I need to paint these guys next!"

But I don't paint them next…

I keep an inventory of all my painted miniatures, by period, and update it after each completed unit. It's helpful for insurance and also to know what I've got for scenarios.

I've done it for years and it really does help focus on getting armies done.

No, but at times I have tried to get them all out in view. I think I've painted about 4000 15mm and 500 25/28mm or so.

Not only have I never kept an inventory but there have been times in the past when I have completly lost track of figures for months (even years)at a time. Now though I have so few that no inventory is needed.

So far just a spreadsheet listing manufacturer, nationality, figure, and quantity.

Buying on Ebay one sometimes gets lot that contains something that was not a specific 'wish.' Helps to keep track of the 'odds and ends' that are accumulating that might become another unit.

Also nice to be able to look at the list and see what might be needed to complete a unit.

No

Tried failed

x42

I don't have enough years in me to paint them – never mind catalogue them.

While I do not have one of all my miniatures I do have some subjects done so I do not buy what I already have. I do have and use the Access database I made for paint. I hate buying a color that I already have at home.

I do want to create and maintain one for the figures. It is that first big block of time that I need to do it. I finally have the space to get it all out.

I don't think I could find them all or count that high. My wife tells me to make an inventory and how much I paid, just in case I die.

Yes. Quarterly

DM

Yes – spreadsheet – I try to do an update as and when figures are bought/arrive, but its not always 100% accurate.

I do a census on my collection every year, around 1st week of January, and that ensures that it is as accurate as I can make it. It is frightening the way that the lead mountain has risen over the last few years, I seem to be buying far more than is actually getting painted.

I only divide into painted, unpainted, and total figures.

Steve

Nope… tried for a while but that failed. Besides it's great fun to "find" figures in drawers/boxes you forgot about!

I try to maintain some level of awareness of what I have, but with the sole exception of once making a spreadsheet just to see how much I actually painted in the course of a year, no way. Not the whole collection.

never needed an inventory for the few minis I have … ehm, wait a minute: "few minis" describes my stock 25 years ago – maybe I should think about an inventory …

Yes, word document.

Helps me remember what I have, what I, er…. need, what I ought to have painted and makes it easy to copy & paste over bits to make orbats for each game.

Yes, 2 lists. One by Army, Regiment, Battalions and number of figures in each, Two a historical OOB with odd units fit in

I recently completed a list of all the unpainted stuff – no real clue as to the completed stuff.

But we are moving in about a month, so I think that I will catalogue as I unpack – ooh, THAT'S something to look forward to…

Inventory?

No spreadsheet etc. but I do keep a photgraphic record and this reminds me that I really need to update that.
Thanks,
Pat

Sorry I do not have a spare terabyte of disk space to create one…

Also new recruits get quickly logged into their units, and Yes took photos in division size for records

nope

I have a spreadsheet and I update it whenever I add PAINTED figures.
Since I don't allow unpainted figures on the table, they don't count in the inventory either.

Meant to do a complete inventory for years, finally got around to doing it last year. Glad I did, it's been quite useful.

I inventoried all the unpainted stuff about 12 years ago, and was depressed for weeks.
Aside from that, I have records of how many I buy versus how many I paint, and I have an inventory of sorts for my colonials. I probably should make some sort of nice photo inventory of all the painted units listing the manufacturer, stock numbers (where known), cost etc.
Grelber

No way. The wife would actually know how much I had then, and might stop me from getting the "oh, shiny", stuff.

Hush your mouth.

Once each year or two I go through some of my boxes of stuff trying to clean up a bit so I can jam accumulated items onto the shelves. I usually either make a rough list of things I have or take a photo of each box. A little more often than that I go through at least a few boxes while I'm trying to decide what to paint next, and make a list of things I'm thinking about painting. These lists, and my lists of things I'm thinking about building or buying get put into a little folder/organizer thing when I'm cleaning up loose papers from my desk.

Yes. It's the only practical way for local gamers to know what I have available to game with.

Rick

Yes.
1. So that I know where to find a specific unit.
2. So that I don't paint a specific unit twice.

When you get over 25,000 figures, it does take some organization! Now if I can olny do some Wurttembergers and Westphalians, finish those Saxons and Italians before this liver gives out….