Unit attributes: reading a unit card

What each number and chip on a unit page means, from hit points and strength to leadership, move, gold cost and upkeep.

verified 6.37updated 2026-10-02 · Jake9 min read

A unit page opens with a card of numbers and chips. This page goes through the card in the order you meet it: the nine main stats, then the row beneath them, then the chips. Where a number feeds a roll, the rule is stated here in brief and the full treatment lives on the page for that roll.

All figures are the ones the game’s manual gives. We have not re-measured them, so this page reports what Illwinter says the rules are. Where the manual says nothing, the page says so.

The numbers are the modified ones

The card shows the values you would see if you inspected the unit in the game, and those already include the unit’s gear and age. The manual describes the same idea: a unit may have a base morale of 12, but experience adds 1 and a friendly dominion adds 1, so the number on screen is 14. Clicking a stat in the game shows the breakdown. On the card, the “How these numbers are built” fold-out lists the base value first and each change after it, for every stat that differs from its base.

Experience is one of those changes. A unit that gains enough experience points earns bonuses at set totals of 15, 50, 100, 200 and 400. Every one of those levels adds 1 to attack, defence, precision and morale. Strength rises by 1 at 100 and at 400, hit points by 1 at 100, 200 and 400, and magic resistance by 1 at 400, while the 200 level also takes 1 off encumbrance. Commanders gain leadership as well, 25 at the first level and 50 at each later one. A commander with poor leadership, meaning it allows 10 troops or fewer, gets only a fifth of that leadership bonus.

The nine main stats

Hit points (HP). The damage a unit can take. Whatever gets past its protection comes off this number.

Protection (PROT). The unit’s armour rating. It can differ by body part, which is why the card can show a “basic” figure alongside head and body figures that include it. When a blow lands, the defender’s protection plus a DRN is set against the attacker’s damage roll. See protection for the full treatment.

Morale (MOR). How likely a unit is to keep fighting. The value that is actually tested is the average morale of the whole squad, not of one soldier. Bonuses stack on top of the printed number: +1 in a friendly dominion, +1 in the province where the unit was recruited, a share of the commander’s leadership bonus, and the bonus of a standard in the squad. A morale check “against 12” compares the unit’s morale plus a DRN with 12 plus a DRN. Mindless units have morale 50 and do not rout while a suitable commander is present.

Magic resistance (MR). Defence against spells, in the way defence skill is defence against weapons. A spell that can be resisted is checked against it, though not every spell can be.

Strength (STR). What a unit adds to its damage roll on a hit: strength, plus the weapon’s own damage, plus a DRN. It is also what a unit uses to break free of effects such as entanglement. Two-handed weapons add more of it; see damage types.

Attack skill (ATT). The chance of landing a melee blow. The attacker’s roll is its attack plus a DRN, less a fatigue penalty, and the blow lands if that total is greater than the defender’s roll.

Defence skill (DEF). The chance of avoiding a melee blow. The defender’s roll is its defence plus a DRN, less a fatigue penalty. An equal total is a miss, so ties go to the defender. A shield also changes what kind of hit a landed blow counts as, which matters for the protection roll.

Precision (PREC). Aim, for archers and for spells that must be aimed. Missile attacks do not use defence at all. The game works out which square the missile reaches, and if the range is greater than half the shooter’s precision minus 2, the shot drifts by range times 1.25 divided by precision. Precision above 10 counts double for the part above 10, so a precision of 12 is treated as 14. The same stat also enters a province’s patrol strength, together with map move.

Encumbrance (ENC). The strain of carrying gear. Each time a unit attacks it gains fatigue equal to its encumbrance; moving by itself does not. Fatigue then costs 1 defence for every 10 points and 1 attack for every 20 points. A unit at 100 fatigue falls unconscious, and one at 200 takes hit point damage from further exhaustion. An unconscious unit regains 5 fatigue a turn until it is back under 100. A tired unit is also much easier to wound badly, because low protection rolls then turn into armour-defeating hits.

The row beneath

Size. How much room the unit takes up. A battlefield square holds ten size points, so three size-3 humans share one. A much larger unit can push into a full square if it is at least 3 size points bigger than the unit it displaces, at the cost of one extra point of combat speed. Size also sets the supplies a unit eats: size minus 2 a month, half a supply for size 1 or 2, none for size 0, and half again for animals. A mounted unit eats for both rider and mount, and the card writes its size as the rider’s followed by the mount’s in brackets, for example 3(5).

Move. The map move value: movement points on the strategic map. Each half-step out of one province and into the next costs points by terrain. For ground units that is 3 on plains, 5 in forest or waste, 6 in highlands and 7 in swamp, with extra costs in enemy territory. The manual gives general starting values of 8 for heavy infantry, 14 for light infantry and 20 for light cavalry, with 2 more for any commander. An army moves at the speed of its slowest member, and only commanders can be given move orders.

AP. Action points, which the manual calls combat speed: how far a unit can move in a round of battle. A step of one square costs about one point, and a diagonal step costs half as much again. A unit that moves next to an enemy is held in that enemy’s zone of control, except for fleeing units.

Gold, resources, recruitment points. The three costs of recruiting a unit. The manual’s reading is that gold pays for training, resources pay for equipment, and recruitment points reflect that advanced troops are only found where many people live. A province can spend only the resources it has. It produces half of its potential unless it has a fort, and unrest cuts the figure further. A province’s recruitment points come from its population: 20 to start, then the population at stepped rates of 1 point per 100 up to 5,000, per 200 up to 10,000, per 300 up to 20,000, per 400 up to 40,000 and per 500 beyond that. Forts and order scales raise the total. Sacred units also cost holy points, usually 1 each.

Upkeep. The gold you pay every turn to keep the unit. It is a fifteenth of the unit’s gold cost, or a thirtieth for sacred units and slaves. Summoned units are mostly free of it.

A question mark in a cost cell means the value has not yet been checked against the game. A dash means the unit has none, as with leadership on a unit that is not a commander.

Leadership. Only commanders have it. It is the number of troops a commander can lead, in three kinds that the card writes as a plain number, then magic and undead in brackets. Ordinary leadership covers ordinary troops and animals. Magic leadership covers magic beings, who rout if they are left without magical leadership. Undead leadership covers undead and demons, who rout without it. A mage gets 50 undead leadership for each level of Death magic and 10 for each level of Blood magic, and magic leadership depends on the indirect magic bonuses of the mage’s paths. A commander can lead at most five squads, and extra squads beyond what the leadership comfortably allows can cost morale.

The chips

Ability chips sit at the top of the card. Each shows an ability’s name and, where it has one, its value. The manual counts about 500 abilities, and each one modifies a unit’s attributes or capabilities. A chip links to the ability’s page, or to its entry in the page’s list of terms, and hovering or focusing it shows a one-line summary.

Evidence chips sit inside a stat cell, after the value. They say how well the wiki knows that number. The cell form is a tier word, such as Measured, Reported, Hypothesis or Contradicts, with the sample or source under it, and it links to the evidence section lower on the page. A value with no chip comes from the game’s data, in line with the note at the top of the card.

The line under the name gives the unit’s nations with an era tag (EA early, MA middle, LA late), its role where known, its class, and its size.

What this page does not cover

The manual does not say how the in-game numbers are assembled from equipment, so the fold-out on each card is the record of that. Nothing here says what counts as a good number for any stat. See combat for how the stats are used round by round.