Quote Originally Posted by Rurik the Chieftain
I dunno, Musashi...those Vardariotai, while having one less attack (ranged and melee) point than the dvor, have both the disciplined and highly trained traits as opposed to the dvor's normal and trained traits. The Dvor morale is 9 compared to the Vard 11.The Vards also have one more point of armor, which I think is a little crazy. Neither they nor their horses are even wearing armor! Even with the Dvor's ability to formed charge and their armor piercing melee, I think it's a pretty close match.
It's not as close as it seems. Give them a try in custom battle. 1 more attack + armor piercing >>>> more armor.

It's basically a rule of thumb with this game that attack strength is much more important than defense, and armor piercing is a bizarrely huge advantage.