Archive Notice: This content was originally published at mk.strats-welt.at. I’m working to archive as much Mage Knight 1.0 content as I can find before it disappears from the web.

Attacking by the Numbers

by Drake the Lesser

---

Primary Click Analysis

It’s sometimes useful to know how good a figure’s attack or defense values are when compared to whatever else is out there. The key number in all cases is 7. If you need 7 to hit, then you have a 55% chance to succeed. If you need 8, you have only a 42% chance. So, when planning an attack, you’re looking for something that will work if you roll 7 or better.

Each figure has a position on its combat dial known as the primary click. This is the click that has the best attack and generally (though not always) does the most damage. For most figures, the primary click is their full health position. For some, however, they start out weak and get stronger as they take damage. A figure that does this is called a push spawn, because generally you have to push the figure to get it to full strength.

Push Spawn Primary Clicks

Figure	Cost	Primary Click
Werecat *	19	2
Werecat **	22	2
Werecat ***	25	2
Wereboar *	40	3
Wereboar **	44	3
Wereboar ***	52	3
Weresabretooth *	44	2
Weresabretooth **	50	2
Weresabretooth ***	60	2
Ankhet	32	2
Tusk	57	3
Atayet	73	2
Werewolf *	22	2
Werewolf **	28	2
Werewolf ***	30	2
Werebear *	34	4
Werebear **	40	4
Werebear ***	45	4
Crypt Worm *	35	3
Crypt Worm **	39	3
Crypt Worm ***	43	3
Goblin Volunteer *	5	2
Goblin Volunteer **	6	2
Goblin Volunteer ***	7	2
Martyr	74	5
Podo	3	2
Thorn Crawler *	33	4
Thorn Crawler **	37	3
Thorn Crawler ***	38	3

We make the simplifying assumption that most figures spend the bulk of the game on their primary click. It’s not always true, but it’s what each player is hoping will be the case for their own army, so it’s a useful assumption to make.

---

The Close Combat Table

In this table, the attack and defense values shown are close-combat, not ranged.

Attack	Count	Defense	Count
15	1	22	992
14	3	21	992
13	28	20	992
12	69	19	992
11	111	18	982
10	204	17	935
9	209	16	831
8	212	15	548
7	121	14	157
6	27	13	20

Key Insight

It’s worth noting how effective close-combat attacks are on average. An attack of 8, which is pretty far down the list, still has a better-than-even chance of hitting 55% of the possible targets.

Don’t get over-confident, however: not all figures have an equal chance of being played, and special abilities like Defend can make close combat attacks a lot harder. (Even a Goblin Volunteer is a hard target when next to an Elemental Priest.)

---

The Ranged Combat Table

Ranged combat is a little different, because not all figures have ranged attacks, and because figures with Battle Armor and Invulnerability get a +2 defense against ranged attacks. In addition, figures with Limited Invisibility can’t be targeted at all!

Attack	Count	Defense	Count
15	1	22	976
14	2	21	976
13	11	20	975
12	37	19	961
11	47	18	920
10	99	17	800
9	89	16	660
8	124	15	452
7	61	14	143
6	13	13	20

Battle Armor Impact

Battle Armor is more common than it appears. A close combat attack of 10 has a good chance of hitting 935 figures, but a ranged combat attack of 10 has a good chance of hitting only 800 figures—a reduction of 135 (a little less than 15%). Battle Armor is the difference.

There are also more mitigating factors for ranged combat than close combat: both hindering terrain and elevated terrain can increase a target’s defense for ranged combat.

You pay a price for your ability to hit from a distance!

---

The Capturing Table

There is a third type of attack: capturing. Capturing is only an option if:

• Neither figure has Battle Fury, Invulnerability, or Berserk
• The target does not have Command
• Neither figure is multi-dial

That knocks 322 figures out of the equation right off the bat! In addition, the target gets +2 defense, so an attack of 6 is only going to have a better-than-even chance if the defense is 11 rather than 13.

Attack	Count	Defense	Count
15	0	20	670
14	2	19	670
13	11	18	666
12	39	17	651
11	60	16	608
10	111	15	414
9	128	14	117
8	140	13	16
7	91	12	3
6	26	11	0

---

How to Read These Tables

The Attack/Count columns show how many figures have each attack value on their primary click.

The Defense/Count columns show how many figures have that defense value or lower on their primary clicks—in other words, how many figures that attack value has a better-than-even chance of hitting.

Example

If you have an attack of 10:

• In close combat, you have a good chance of hitting 935 figures
• In ranged combat, you have a good chance of hitting 800 figures
• When capturing, you have a good chance of capturing 414 figures

---

Note: Each version of a scalable figure and each dial of a multi-dial figure is considered a different figure in the tables above. So, for example, the Great Fire Dragon counts as six figures—one for each dial, plus one for the Young version and one for the Mature version. The numbers include all figures available as of 3/20/02 plus the Castle pieces.

---

—Drake the Lesser