Each fighting soldier, monster or war machine is referred to as a “model”. There are many model types in the Game which differ both visually and through their Characteristic profiles.

Movement (m)

In game movement characteristic affects:

• Movement speed
• Reform speed
• Charge speed
• Retreat/pursue speed

Weapon skill (ws)

WS affects chance to hit or avoid being hit in Melee combat
Basic value can be further modified by ability such as fear or magic spell

Ballistic skill (bs)

BS affects chance to hit with ranged weapon/ability.
Basic value can be further modified by traget size, its cover, etc.

In do affects unit:

• rate of fire (reload time)
• accuracy

Strength (s)

affects chance to wound and penetrate armor in Melee Combat
basic value can be further modified by weapon, charge bonus, spells, etc.

Toughness (t)

affects chance to resist wound from melee or ranged hit
basic value can be modified

Wounds (w)

Number of wounds model can take before she dies (Hit points) 

Initiative (i)

• Units with higher Initiative strike first in melee combat round

• Unit with i=0 doesn't strike during combat

• If two units have equal Movement value the unit with higher Initiative will auto charge first.

• Affects unit acceleration/deceleration

• Affects movement and reform speed

• Charge modifies unit ini to the highest value during first melee round
• Some weapon types may modify unit ini to lowest value (i.e. great swords)

Attacks (a)

Affects how many times model can strike in Melee Combat per one round

Leadership (Ld)

Leadership characteristic affects Leadership test which happens when:

• Unit takes casualties >=25% of its models number at the round start (panic test)
• Unit loses Melee combat round (break test). Once per combat round
• Other friendly unit in Xm radious breaks(retreats) from combat (panic test)
• Unit is retreating and attempts to rally (rally test). Happens  every X seconds 
• Unit is charged in the rear and flank(panic test)
• Other events will be added in later versions:

• • Ld test on Fear ability. Once per combat round. WS decreased to 1 if failed. Unit automatically skips Ld test and flees if loses melee combat round.

  • Ld test on Terror ability. Once per combat round. Unit flees if test was failed

Leader 

In DO each unit has a leader model which is always located in the middle of the first rank of unit's formation. Leader can't die until there is at least one model left in unit.
If leader gets hit in combat it is supposed that his wound has to be redirected to other models in unit. But there is confirmed bug in DO which absorbs all wounds made to a unit leader (pls. see video).

On the video lone Morgan has much superior stats like W5 and A7 but all his attacks gets absorbed by enemy leader which still has models in his unit. Eventually lone Morgan dies.

The Leader model always fights in melee regardless of attacked arc. There can be situation that leader model killed all enemy models around him while his unit is still engaged. In this case leader has to occupy another available combat slot if there is a free one and/or when friendly model dies. Such check should be done once per melee round