Keep your hobby context together

Find the right home for your whole hobby

An honest, side-by-side breakdown of hobby tracking tools for Warhammer 40,000 and Age of Sigmar. See how Hobby Dataslate connects what you own with your workbench, photos, kitbashing stash, paint recipes, progress, and tabletop rosters.

Choose Hobby Dataslate if…
  • You track both 40K and Age of Sigmar and want one collection, not two apps.
  • You add Combat Patrols, Spearheads, or Battleforces and want the box contents unpacked in one tap.
  • You kitbash and want a real stash for spare bits and cut sprues — not just a photo notebook.
  • You want your paint recipes and batch painting progress tied to the physical units themselves.
  • You switch between a phone, tablet, and desktop browser and want cloud account sync on all of them.
Another tool might fit if…
  • You only paint display pieces and want a simple Apple-only progress bar — Figure Case does that well.
  • Your priority is logging battles and running a club with events — TableForge is built around game records.
  • You keep your whole hobby in a spreadsheet and enjoy maintaining it — nothing beats a sheet for total freedom.
  • You only need a paint bottle library with colour matching — paintRack and Brushrage are excellent at that.

We have not hands-on tested every competitor workflow; the rows above reflect what each developer advertises publicly (checked September 2026).

Head-to-Head

The feature matrix

Direct comparison of miniature backlog trackers, mobile tools, and spreadsheets.

Capability Hobby Dataslate All-In-One Figure Case Hobby Armory Liber Pigmenta TableForge Spreadsheets
Platforms Supported ✓ iOS, Android, Web Cloud account sync Apple platforms iOS, iPadOS, Mac (Apple silicon) Android & iOS beta TestFlight beta; Web planned Android & Web No native iOS app iOS & Android No desktop web app advertised ✓ Most platforms Desktop, mobile & web suites
1-Tap Box Set Imports ✓ Built-in catalogs Combat Patrols, Spearheads Manual entry No preloaded box catalogs Box search & contents Preloaded box definitions Manual entry No preloaded box catalogs Manual entry No preloaded box catalog advertised Manual entry Type row by row
Rules & Points System ✓ Bundled point data 40K & AoS detachments/regiments Not included Focuses on physical stage tracking Unit lists & points Point tracking for 40K Unit roster builder Target point tracking Army points at a glance Roster composition focus Custom formulas Manual formula upkeep
Bits & Spare Sprue Stash ✓ Dedicated Stash Counts, kits, values & notes Not verified Not verified Not verified Not verified Custom tab Unstructured text notes
Hobby Economics & Budgets ✓ Built-in ledger Spend by store & savings; budget guards on Hero Not verified Not verified Not verified Not verified Custom tab Manual expense formulas
Squad Batch Workflows ✓ Batch projects Squad progress + desk timers Grouped models Configurable progress stages Projects Squad & project grouping Kanban board 6-stage sprue-to-showcase workflow Readiness stages Boxed → tabletop-ready tracking Custom checklists
Paint Recipe Catalog ✓ Per-unit recipes Step-by-step stages & stash Model notes Text notes per unit ✓ Yes Unit-linked recipes advertised ✓ Yes 2,800+ paints & recipe editor ✓ Yes Recipes stored per unit, reusable schemes Plain text
Army Roster Import ✓ BattleScribe & New Recruit .rosz & .json support Not supported ✓ BattleScribe .ros / .rosz support Not verified ✓ Yes Unit & roster import advertised Not automated
Cloud Sync & Durability ✓ Cloud account sync Optimistic local cache ✓ iCloud sync Cloud account Cloud account Cloud account Cloud drive sync Google Drive / OneDrive
Pricing Model ✓ Free tier (100 units, 5 armies) $1/mo Premium, $5/mo Hero $4.99 upfront US App Store listing Free beta Public beta period Free Unlimited minis & armies advertised Not verified ✓ Free options available

Competitor capabilities are based on each developer's public website and app-store listing, checked September 2026; where a capability is claimed by a developer but was not hands-on verified for this comparison, it is marked "advertised" or "Not verified". Trademarks belong to their respective holders. If you notice an update or discrepancy, please contact us so we can keep this comparison accurate.

Switching Guides

How moving your hobby data works

What actually transfers, what you re-enter, and what makes the switch worthwhile.

From a spreadsheet

Moving out of Google Sheets or Excel

Spreadsheets are where many miniature painters start out: they are free, completely flexible, and universally accessible.

The real cost

Formatting rows by hand, updating formulas when point values change, and tapping tiny cells on a phone at the painting desk is ongoing maintenance that most painters eventually stop doing.

What transfers

Unit lists import directly from BattleScribe (.rosz), New Recruit (.json), or a CSV exported from Google Sheets or Excel. Combat Patrols, Spearheads, and Battleforces unpack from built-in catalogs. Historical painting stages you re-enter once — there is no automatic sheet-to-stages importer.

Not sure?

Your JSON export keeps the door open: collection data leaves anytime as JSON, plus printable tournament and insurance valuation PDFs.

From an Apple-only app

Coming from Figure Case

Figure Case is a polished Apple-native progress tracker with grouped models, configurable stages, and effort weighting.

The limitation

It runs on Apple platforms only, with no Android phone or desktop browser access, and its models are not linked to 40K/AoS box contents, points, or paint recipes.

What transfers

There is no one-click Figure Case importer: you re-add units via box catalogs or roster files and set their current stage once. You keep the pipeline idea — stages like "primed" or "based" map onto Dataslate's own build states.

Not sure?

If you only paint on Apple devices and never need points, lists, or a browser, Figure Case may genuinely be enough — it is a good app.

The kitbasher's stash

Organizing spare parts with a real bits stash

Hobby trackers that stop at assembled or boxed units leave the kitbasher's bits box unmanaged.

The friction

Loose weapons, special weapon options, and cut sprues end up scattered across storage bins, making it easy to forget what spare components you have on hand — or buy a duplicate bit on eBay.

What transfers

The Sprue & Bits Stash catalogs components with part counts, kit sources, estimated values, and project notes. Adding entries is quick manual logging — there is no barcode or import shortcut for loose bits.

Context

Some paint and hobby apps now mention owned bits too; Dataslate's stash is tied to the same collection, armies, and recipes you already track here.

Alongside paint managers

Using Dataslate with a paint bottle library

Specialized paint stash apps like paintRack provide comprehensive bottle libraries, colour matching, and model-linked recipe sets.

The distinction

Bottle databases excel at swatch matching and inventorying hundreds of paint bottles, but they are not designed to manage army detachments, assembly pipelines, or box set rosters.

How they fit together

Many hobbyists run both: a paint library for bottle-level matching, and Dataslate for the physical units, recipes, stash, and tabletop readiness. Recipes are stored per unit and list the paints you own.

Not sure?

If you only need a digital paint drawer and never track units or armies, a paint manager alone may be all you need.

Questions, answered

Frequently asked questions

Everything you need to know before bringing your hobby context into Hobby Dataslate.

Do I have to re-enter all my models by hand?

No. If you have army lists in BattleScribe (.rosz) or New Recruit (.json), you can import them directly, and a CSV from Google Sheets or Excel imports units too. If you have Combat Patrols, Spearheads, or Battleforce boxes, you can unpack the entire set with model counts and starting points in one tap.

Can I export my data if I ever want to leave?

Yes. We believe in zero lock-in. You can export your full collection data as JSON anytime, or generate printable tournament rosters and insurance valuation PDFs directly from the app.

Does it work offline during games or at painting desks?

Hobby Dataslate keeps recent screens warm in a fast local cache, so screens you have opened recently can load quickly on a flaky connection, and your changes sync to your cloud account when you are back online. It is not a fully offline copy of your whole collection: cold-start reads and cross-device changes need a connection, and edits made offline are not queued across app restarts. For painting desk sessions with no signal at all, keep the screens you need open before you lose connectivity.

Is the free tier actually usable without paying?

Yes. The free tier includes up to 100 units, 5 army lists, 40 paints, 20 bits stash entries, 3 batch painting projects, and full list imports. It is designed to be a complete, useful daily companion without surprise paywalls. A few extras sit behind paid tiers: monthly budget guards and advanced stats are Hero features, and Premium adds unlimited collection space plus photo journals, public sharing, and gallery views.

Ready to start?

Know what you own. Remember what you did. Choose what comes next.

Start free right now in your browser, or download the app on iOS and Android. No credit card required.

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