I have been diving into the major history of Games Workshop quite a bit and discussing a few things with Dan as I went. I think we have come up with a bit of a good idea for arranging this information in the database.
One of the major features of this database that I think is very useful for collectors is the ability to have images of the actual packaging and items in a box. As history moves forward and Games Workshop puts things out of print constantly, it becomes difficult to find a historical record of everything they've put out. Their code structure is rather difficult to use because they have codes for EVERYTHING! Over the years they have changed some of their code structuring quite a bit on packaging... so here's what I'm thinking:
GW makes new companies for stuff rather than print everything under a single company. Citadel is where the main miniatures were manufactured, later they also made Forge World to create high quality resin figures. Forge World had different codes, but eventually their stuff used the same code forms as GW products sometime in the 2000's.
I think Citadel specific miniatures are from the 1980's up until about 1992/1993 where a new edition of Warhammer Fantasy Battle/Warhammer 40k was released and all the codes transitioned to something more uniform. These should probably all use the cit- initial code on Miniset. Citadel was no longer printed prominently on the front of the package instead on the back of blisters it said the company and "A Games Workshop Product".
Making matters worse, for some reason Citadel was split up at one point and there was another company named Marauder Miniatures and a lot of the 2nd Edition (Maybe?) Warhammer Fantasy Battle miniatures were made by them. The sculpts are the same as when they did a new round of printing in the 3rd or 4th edition. Some of these are confusing to label, because they feature GW codes (very different from the Marauder codes) as Marauder Miniatures got more absorbed by Citadel, but still print Marauder Miniatures on the box.
So at one point, we had Citadel codes, Marauder codes, and GW codes simultaneously existing! Then there's another layer to the codes...
Catalog codes vs. Package codes: These are different codes usually. The code featured in catalogs is often the codes for a specific sculpt, so I think these are the citadel codes. However, none of those codes appear on packages especially in bundled product. I think there are some UK blisters that used these codes. The codes on old Citadel blisters seem to be fragments of the larger code and I think it lines up with the UPC code for the UK, but not other countries.
Boxed sets in the 90's: I own a bunch of these things and these all have a 4 digit product code that is being used to catalog on Miniset. Different countries can have different versions of these codes, I've at least seen one in English with a 0001 code and a different language variant of the same product with 1001. These were used up until about 1998-ish it seems.
In 1998 they transition to an 11-digit Product code. However, there is also another code, the "component code" which is a different number. The product code seems to be the code for the packaging, which includes country specific info and the component code seems to be the code for the exact model(s) in the box.
Blisters in the 90's: I've primarily worked on entering the blisters published in the US, mainly because you can find pics of them on eBay and the codes are printed on the front. UK blisters seem to have codes on the back. I've only seen a couple blisters from Germany and France, and they don't have codes on the front. The early 1990-1992 blisters don't seem to have codes consistently printed on them... so these are hard to figure out. They probably just use the old catalog codes from citadel, but they do have unique UPC codes, which isn't all that useful for Miniset, since we're doing things differently.
Around 1993 a dark green blister set was printed, these usually feature a 4-digit code. I don't know if they printed the full range of their catalog in these blisters. Not everything I've seen has codes, but I've seen some blisters packaged in old box sets that have no codes, so I have no idea if these have just found their way to the secondary market etc.
In 1995 a lighter green blister set seems to have appeared, but this was a 4-digit code with a letter. Sometimes I find a bluish-green ones, no idea what these are. I think this was a way to organize their miniatures into sets, so all the Necromunda minis have the same 4-digit code and the letter is how they vary the minis. Or in Warhammer Fantasy Battle one code is for The Empire and the letter varies up the units, etc.
In 1997 a red blister set appears with the same code structuring and pretty much all of the 1995 set is reprinted. I propose the convention of putting the date of the release after the code and then linking them with the "Next Set" feature when these are updated. As a collector I think many people will want to know the year of their exact model if they remember/buy new ones second hand after the fact.
In about 2000 a new range appears, similar code structure, but with extra letters tagged on, so there is a decent way to distinguish these sets from the previous editions. Again, if you can link them up with the "Next Set" feature, we can, there are just so many of these things being repackaged it's hard to track it all down and then are we even sure we have it all???
Codes in the 2000's era:
Boxed sets were using the same codes introduced in 1998 for quite a while. But eventually they no longer printed the component code on the boxes, instead they have a code structure of two digits with a dash and another two digits. (Example: 43-24). This code is the specific set for the collection of models in the box. In larger box sets, this is not the code for the individual models that can later appear on blisters, these are the codes for this specific set.
There are quite a few boxed sets that were re-released several times since 1998. While the 1998 packaging range is wildly different, the 2000's+ range is not. Sometimes the box covers are exactly the same or with slight modifications. However, the major way you can tell the difference is the back of the box. The back of the box is always different and redesigned.
Blisters started appearing with the 4-digit dash code and then a letter, such as 51-42, but then a G is printed, I've been putting these in as 51-42-G, since the letter is larger and much more separate. However, if it is possible to find images of the backs of these things, you will find the 11 digit code! Some have these labeled as the "store" code, but this is the product code. There is another code listed, the "Warehouse" code, but this is 11-digits. We have not been using this code. So be wary if just archiving these off the web. I believe this code structure appears earlier in blisters in the UK.
Modern codes:
The modern code system seems to be pretty much a continuation of what started in the mid-2000's. Everything is using the 11-digit code now. All their products have been brought under one coding house across all the various games and different lines they print. I've seen most things have the specific item code, but now I see some boxed sets with things like 300-10 instead of just the 43-24 styled codes.
All the blisters are using this code setup now as well, so everything is nicely uniform finally and making it much easier to keep track of these items.
Sprues have codes now! If you look at the sprues you will find 11-digit codes specific to those sprues.I have been entering them into the specific image file as I find them. I recommend everyone else do the same if they can. I also listed how many of a sprue is in a box if I am working on a larger box set.
I think that is everything I have figured out and the conventions we've been trying to use.
