I’ve recently gotten the chance to play Wizard of the Coast’s board game Conquest of Nerath (by Wizards of the Coast) and really enjoyed my experience. After playing a few games, the knee-jerk reaction of many of the players was that Dragons were the superior unit, even given their cost. Let’s see what the math has to say.
For this, I’m going to calculate how many hits you get per gold spent on a given unit. This will ignore many abilities that do not have a direct impact on a fight. So when making a purchase choice, make sure to weigh those special abilities as well.
- 5 Footsoldiers roll 5d6, scoring .8335 hits.
- Dragon rolls 1d20, scoring .75 hits.
- 4.25 Footsoldiers roll 4.25d6, scoring .7085 hits, for 1.542 hits total.
- Dragon rolls 1d20, scoring .75 hits, for 1.5 hits total.
- 3.5 Footsoldiers roll 3.5d6, scoring .5835 hits, for 2.1255 hits total.
- Dragon rolls 1d20, scoring .75 hits, for 2.25 hits total.
- Footsoldiers win!
- 30 Footsoldiers roll 30d6, scoring 5.001 hits.
- 6 Dragons rolls 6d20, scoring 4.5 hits.
- 25.5 Footsoldiers roll 25.5d6, scoring 4.2509 hits, for 9.2519 hits total.
- 6 Dragons rolls 6d20, scoring 4.5 hits, for 9 hits total.
- 21 Footsoldiers roll 21d6, scoring 3.5007 hits, for 12.7526 hits total.
- 3 Dragon rolls 1d20, scoring 2.25 hits, for 11.25 hits total.
- Footsoldiers win!
So, the Footsoldiers trounce the Dragons pretty handily in both small and large scale encounters. Of course, the Dragons have mobility on their side, but they aren’t the auto-pick many players thought they were.