In my previous installment of Mathhammer 101, I explained a method of getting the most effective army for the least money. In those calculations, points were used as the sole measure of effectiveness. Of course, anyone who’s been around the wargaming block knows that points are an imperfect measure of effectiveness. Dozens of models lie unused at the bottom of a carrying case because they’re “not worth its points.”

The problem is, points are only roughly related to effectiveness, and even “effectiveness” itself is a slippery term. A 100 pt model is not always twice as effective as a 50 pt model (for some definition of “effectiveness”). An upgrade that costs 10 pts does not always make you 10 pts-worth more effective.

To try to at least roughly decide whether a model or upgrade is “worth its points”, you can calculate its kills per point, or kpp.

This is calculated by figuring out how likely it is to kill an enemy model, divided by how many points it costs. Doing this for a variety of units or upgrade permutations can give you a guideline for which units or upgrades are “worth it” and which “aren’t.”
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