Many soldiers on the battlefield wear armor which may greatly increase their survival chances from eslewise a fatal strikes.
TT armor
If a model has equipped armor there is a chance for her to completely deflect wound. Such chance called Armor save throw and is calculated by comparing Armor save value of model with a 6-sided dice saving throw result. If Armor save throw result is equal or more of Armor save value then save is successful and model avoids being wounded
Armor save value is cumulative from different type of armor, i.e. light armor (6) + shield (6) will give armor save on dice throw of 5 or 6 (pls. see saving throw chart).
For example, an Elf has light armor and a shield. Elf armor save value is 5+ which means that in case of being hit and wounded Elf needs to make saving throw 5 or 6 to avoid the wound.
Armor save throw can be additionally modified by hit delivered with strength 4 or more (please, see the chart).
For example, if the same Elf in light armor with shield which give 5+ armor save value was hit by Orc with S4 then it will modify Elf saving throw result by -1, i.e. 5 - 1 = 4 and 6 - 1 = 5. This means that due to powerful strike of Orc, Elf needs to make saving throw with result 6 to avoid being wounded.
Heavily armored soldier is better protected and has better chances to survive. The downside of heavy armor is that soldier's movement is hindered and he gets penalty to his Movement characteristic.
DO armor
SoTHR developers decided to simplify TT rules and replaced Armor saves with Armor rating (AR) equivalent (Pls. see the picture)
DO developers used the same approach and any model in the game has base AR from 0 (no armor) to 5 (full armor). Each 1 AR value gives 16.6% to avoid wound, so 2 AR gives 33.3% and so on up to 5 AR 83.3%
It is not possible to unequip armor in DO and it is just a parameter which can be modified (upgraded) by buying additional armor piece withing unit maximum armor limit. For infantry the armor rating limit is 3 which is equal to 4+ armor saving throw. It can be additionally boosted by magic item such as magic shield to AR 4 (armor saving throw 3+). For cavalry the armor rating limit is 5 which is equal to 2+ armor saving throw.
Same as in TT, Armor rating can be decreased by Strength of the model that delivers hit starting from S4.
DO playtest shown that GB cavalry unit moves with speed equal to M7 while in TT, usual M value for horse is 8. This means that's unit's riders is equipped in heavy armor or horses has barding (i.e. horse armor). There is no armor penalty to infantry speed though.
Strength of attacker may decrease Armor Rating:
SOTHR armor
