Warrior Baseline Profile Analysis

From what I can tell, it looks like there was a base profile that was intended to be created and adjustments to that base profile would increase or decrease the respective cost of other profiles.

Warrior & WarMachine Baseline Profile:

Cst | Mv | F | B | S | D | A | R | C | Mt | Ar | XWpn | SpR

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  5  |   6   | 3 | 4  | 3 |  3 | 8  | 1 | 3  |  0  |   0  |      0     |   0

Key:

• Cst = Cost of a single company in a formation
• Mv = Move value of the formation of companies [Range: 0 .. INF]
• F = Fight value of the company in a formation [Range: 1 .. 10]
• B = Ballistic value of the company in a formation [Range: 1 .. 6]
• S = Strength value of the company in a formation [Range: 1 .. 10]
• D = Defense value of the company in a formation [Range: 1 .. 10]
• A = Attack value of the company in a formation [Range: 1 .. 10]
• R = Resistance value of the company in a formation [Range: 1 .. 4]
• C = Courage value of the company in a formation [Range: 1 .. 10]
• Mt = Might value of the company in a formation [Range: 0 .. INF]
• Ar = Armor level of the company in a formation
• 0 = No Armor
• 1 = Light Armor (Typically called "armour" in a profile and provides a +1 bonus to the Defense Value for the company in a formation)
• 2 = Heavy Armor (Typically called "heavy armour" in a profile and provides a +2 bonus to the Defense Value for the company in a formation)
• 3 = Special Named Heavy Armor (Sometimes called something special, like "mithril-forged heavy armour" for Hurin within the Wardens of the Keys; provides a +3 bonus to the Defense value for the company in a formation)
• XWpn = Extra weapons that are equipped for the company in a formation
• 0 = Hand Weapon only
• 1+ = Any other additional wargear listed within the profile (i.e., If a profile, like Minas Tirith Archers, has "Each company has hand weapons, heavy armor and bows" this would imply that the number of extra weapons would be 1 ... 0 for the hand weapon and 1 for the bows. For the Knights of Dol Amroth: "Each company has hand weapons, heavy armour, shields and lances", this would imply they would have Ar = 2 and Xwpn = 2; 0 for the hand weapon, 1 for the shields and 2 for the lances.)
• SpR = Special rules that are assigned to the company in a formation
• 0 = No special rules
• +1 for each special rule available to the profile

When Warrior (e.g., Infantry & Cavalry) non-hero profiles are created it seems that it was originally intended to use 25 points as the base cost and then add or subtract a 5 point adjustment for any of the set of statistics up or down, and finally halving the resultant value and rounding up to the nearest 5's.

For War Machines (e.g., Artillery & "Monsters") profiles, it seems that they follow the same model, but do not half the final resultant value.

COST OF NEW WARRIOR PROFILE = (0.5) * {[(Cst)*5]+[(Mv-6)*5]+[(F-3)*5]+[(B-4)*-5]+[(S-3)*5]+[(D-3)*5]+[(A-8)*5]+[(R-1)*5]+[(C-3)*5]+[(Ar)*5]+[(XWpn)*5]+[(SpR)*5]}

COST OF NEW WARMACHINE PROFILE = (1.0) * {[(Cst)*5]+[(Mv-6)*5]+[(F-3)*5]+[(B-4)*-5]+[(S-3)*5]+[(D-3)*5]+[(A-8)*5]+[(R-1)*5]+[(C-3)*5]+[(Ar)*5]+[(XWpn)*5]+[(SpR)*5]}

++ NOTE: The adjustment for the Ballistic value is negative - since it is inverse beneficiary. Also, Might will always be 0 for a rank-and-file unit (so it is not in the equation).

++ NOTE 2: Recall that the order of operations goes: "Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sallie"

Example:

Based upon the profile for the Outrider Eored:

• Mv = 12
• F = 3
• B = 2
• S = 3
• D = 4
• A = 2
• R = 2
• C = 3
• Mt = 0

Wargear: "Each company has hand weapons, thrown weapons, armour and bows."

• Ar = 1 (The Wargear entry has "armour" contained within it.)
• XWpn = 2 (The Wargear entry gives: 0 for the hand weapon, 1 for the thrown weapons, and 2 for the bows.)
• SpR = 1 (The Special Rules has "Expert Riders." listed.)

Plugging all this into the equation gives:

COST OF PROFILE = (0.5) * {[(5)*5]+[(12-6)*5]+[(3-3)*5]+[(2-4)*-5]+[(3-3)*5]+[(4-3)*5]+[(2-8)*5]+[(2-1)*5]+[(3-3)*5]+[(1)*5]+[(2)*5]+[(1)*5]}

= (0.5) * {[25]+[6*5]+[0*5]+[-2*-5]+[0*5]+[1*5]+[-6*5]+[1*5]+[0*5]+[5]+[10]+[5]}

= (0.5) * {[25]+[30]+[0]+[10]+[0]+[5]+[-30]+[5]+[0]+[5]+[10]+[5]}

= (0.5) * {65}

= 32.5

Rounding up to the nearest 5 ... gives 35 Points for this profile.

This produces some interesting results when applied to the various profiles within the book. About 48 of the profiles come in exactly at the correct points that GW assigned to the profile. Those fall within the factions of Gondor & Arnor, Rohan, and Isengard (ironically the most often played factions for WotR). The factions that deviated the most from this model are Elves, Dwarves, Forgotten Kingdoms, Mordor, Moria, Fallen Realms, and Angmar (interestingly the most often complained about unbalanced factions for WotR).

Analyzing the average deviation from the models within several of the factions produced the following:

• Gondor & Arnor - Consistently about 6% higher than the results of the template.
• Rohan - Followed the template pretty well. Only about 2% lower than the template.
• Elves - Regularly 10% higher than the results of the template.
• Dwarves - Regularly 9% higher than the results of the template.
• Forgotten Kingdoms - About 22% higher than the template. Quite erratic in their points - and apparently hobbits are quite expensive.
• Mordor - About 18% higher than the template
• Isengard - About 6% higher than the template

Also of interest is that by sorting the Gondor & Arnor profiles from most underpriced to most overpriced produced the same results as the previous post!

Keys:

(C) = Common Formation, (R) = Rare Formation, (L) = Legendary Formation

[I] = Infantry, [H] = Cavalry, [A] = Artillery, [M] = "Monster"

• (R) [A] Avenger Bolt Thrower - Underpriced by 30%
• (C) [I] Minas Tirith Warriors - Underpriced by 20%
• (C) [I] Warriors of Arnor - Underpriced by 20%
• (R) [I] Axemen of Lossarnach - Underpriced by 20%
• (L) [I] The Grey Company - Underpriced by 19%
• (L) [I] Osgiliath Veterans - Underpriced by 14%
• (C) [I] Numenorean Warriors - Underpriced by 10% [Rounded down to nearest 5 instead of up.]
• (L) [I] Blackroot Vale Archers - Underpriced by 10% [Rounded down to nearest 5 instead of up.]
• (R) [I] Clansmen of Lamedon - Accurately Priced (0% deviation)
• (L) [I] Rangers of Ithilien - Accurately Priced (0% deviation)
• (L) [I] Royal Guard of Arnor - Accurately Priced (0% deviation)
• (C) [I] Men-at-Arms of Dol Amroth - Accurately Priced (0% deviation)
• (C) [I] Rangers of Gondor - Overpriced by 8% [Due to round up to the nearest 5.]
• (C) [H] Minas Tirith Knights - Overpriced by 10% [Due to round up to the nearest 5.]
• (R) [A] Battlecry Trebuchet - Overpriced by 10% [Due to round up to the nearest 5.]
• (C) [I] Foot Knights of Dol Amroth - Overpriced by 11%
• (C) [I] Citadel Guard - Overpriced by 14%
• (R) [I] Guards of the Fountain Court - Overpriced by 14%
• (L) [I] Denethor's Guard - Overpriced by 14%
• (L) [I] Dunedain of Arnor - Overpriced by 14%
• (C) [I] Minas Tirith Archers - Overpriced by 17%
• (C) [I] Rangers of Arnor - Overpriced by 17%
• (C) [H] Knights of Dol Amroth - Overpriced by 20%
• (C) [I] Numenorean Archers - Overpriced by 25%
• (L) [I] Court of the Dead - Overpriced by 29%
• (R) [I] Warriors of the Dead - Overpriced by 33%
• (L) [I] Warden of the Keys - Overpriced by 33%
• (R) [H] Riders of the Dead - Overpriced by 38%

If we would apply the template and sort by the cost calculated by the template for Gondor & Arnor, we get the following companies from cheapest (weakest stat-wise) to most expensive (most powerful) - as would be expected the common formations should be the cheapest and the rare/legendary formations should be the most expensive:

• 25 Points per Company:
• (C) [H] Minas Tirith Knights
• (C) [I] Numenorean Archers
• (C) [I] Minas Tirith Archers
• (C) [I] Rangers of Arnor
• 30 Points per Company:
• (C) [I] Numenorean Warriors
• (L) [I] Blackroot Vale Archers
• (C) [I] Rangers of Gondor
• (C) [I] Minas Tirith Warriors
• (C) [I] Warriors of Arnor
• (R) [I] Axemen of Lossarnach
• (R) [I] Clansmen of Lamedon
• (R) [I] Rangers of Ithilien
• (L) [I] Royal Guard of Arnor
• (C) [I] Citadel Guard
• (R) [I] Guards of the Fountain Court
• (L) [I] Denethor's Guard
• (L) [I] Dunedain of Arnor
• 35 Points per Company:
• (C) [I] Men-at-Arms of Dol Amroth
• 40 Points per Company:
• (L) [I] Osgiliath Veterans
• (R) [H] Riders of the Dead
• (C) [I] Foot Knights of Dol Amroth
• (C) [H] Knights of Dol Amroth
• (R) [I] Warriors of the Dead
• 45 Points per Company:
• (L) [I] Court of the Dead
• (L) [I] Warden of the Keys
• 50 Points per Company:
• (L) [I] The Grey Company
• 65 Points per Company:
• (R) [A] Avenger Bolt Thrower
• 90 Points per Company:
• (R) [A] Battlecry Trebuchet

Interestingly enough, this almost implies that the true "cheapest" strength of Gondor & Arnor from a stat perspective is actually Knights and Archery, followed by shield walls (which makes sense given their high defense stat).

<NOTE: I've moved the Elves' Analysis to their own post.>

I'm curious how this will match up with the point adjustments that others in the WotR arena have adjusted based upon their individual analysis.

LINKS TO OTHER UNIT COST ANALYSIS POSTS

1. Gondor & Arnor Warriors
2. Gondor & Arnor Heroes
3. The Kingdom of Rohan Unit Cost Analysis
4. The Elven Kingdoms Unit Cost Analysis
5. The Dwarf Holds Unit Cost Analysis
6. The Forgotten Kingdoms Unit Cost Analysis
7. Mordor Unit Cost Analysis
8. The Fortress of Isengard Unit Cost Analysis
9. The Misty Mountains (Moria) Unit Cost Analysis
10. The Fallen Realms Unit Cost Analysis
11. Angmar Unit Cost Analysis