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I was thinking how does GW come up with the point values

dont think they just make it up ... i think there is a formula!!!

so what is it
I thought maybe the basic stat-line m3/4 ws3 bs3 s3 t3 a1 I3 W1 Ld7

and then a + blank amount of points for +1 to a stat line and + blank amount of points for each special rule and +1 for each equipment

I dont know but if we find it out we may be able to creat are own armys that would be atleast close to fair!
i dont know what do you guys think?

I'd love to know how they work out the point system. It seems to change from codex to codex.

As for creating our own armies, Im sure people could make some over powered armies using that system. Still, it would be fun to be able to create your own HQ and special characters.

If there is a formula, it would likely be army specific - that's my hunch, at any rate.

Really, though, I'd be shocked if there is a formula - why exactly is it that you don't think they look at units that are kind of similar, and make up a price based off of that?

In terms of game design, GW's approach is not one that tends to fill me with confidence. They are a miniatures company first - the gaming aspect comes in a distant 2nd (or 3rd/4th)

This is second-hand information so don’t quote me as gospel but I had heard from someone who had posed this very question at a live GW Developer Q&A forum. The answer he got back was that there is no formula. That point values were assigned based on what feels “about right”.

GW has reference points values, but tweaks them depending on the "theme" of the army, and the rest of the units in the army.

GW appears to deliberately adjust points values to bias various armies. SM Rhinos are discounted by 10-20%. BA Tacticals appear to be penalized by about 5-10%, whereas CSM Possessed appear to be penalized by up to 25% in points cost. This "encourages" players to take certain units with certain options and such to fit a particular army theme.

GW used to do more formulaic stuff, esp in RT & 2E, but has since moved away from that as armies have more distinctive character and special rules that are hard to cost.

The new approach generally works better, although I think sometimes GW overdoes things - Possessed, for example, really didn't need to be hit so hard.

And really, if all Tacticals cost the same, for example, then it puts too much burden on getting the formula provably exactly right, because any minor error or bias in the formula then has much broader consequences throughout the game system. Such a "magic' formula leads to broad, systemic imbalances.