The points values described above are not exhaustive by any means. For one thing, every army has regiments of guards or other first-class troops who are better fighters than the ordinary rank and file troops. Such troops might be extraordinarily brave, particularly well disciplined, picked out from the biggest and sturdiest of their kind, especially fleet of foot, highly trained and drilled, expert marksmen, and so on. Depending on their expertise their characteristics may be better than ordinary members of their race, and their points value would have to be increased to reflect this. The Warhammer Armies lists give examples of troops which are better, sometimes far better, than ordinary warriors. A suitable points addition is made for this.
A good example of warriors whose prowess far exceeds that of their fellows is the Emperor's Reiksguard Knights, recruited from the noble youth of the Empire and subjected to the rigorous training of the Imperial army.
| M | WS | BS | S | T | W | I | A | Ld | Save | Pts | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reiksguard Knight | 4 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 7 | 2+ | 39 |
| Warhorse | 8 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 5 |
The Reiksguard Knight is allotted a points value of 8 to take into account his improved characteristics. He is armed with a lance (+2), and wears heavy armour (+3) and carries a shield (+1). His Warhorse has barding armour (+4). This gives a total points value of 18 points, but because the Reiksguard Knight is a cavalry model this is doubled to 36, and because he is riding a Warhorse a further +3 is added. This gives a total points value of 39. Note that his movement characteristic does not take into account the reduction in speed due to armour, which reduces his actual movement rate to 6".