If you want Base Armor, then use Upgrades.
Configure amount of armor you want at "Combat - Defense Upgrade Bonus"
Create a dummy upgrade, set "Data - Effect 1" to "Apply Defense Upgrade Bonus"
Then set the unit to be able to receive the upgrade: "Techtree - Upgrades Used"
Trigger:
Player - Set the current research level of <your upgrade name> to 1 for Player 1 (Red)
you can increase it using tomes, but i forget whether it is decreasable by using them with a negative value... if you plan to do this, you must have a hero type inventory on the unit, i believe it can be set to 0 item slots as long as its on the unit
Ghan has said he has fixed this. Monovertex please confirm this fix. This was only a problem with people that had signatures in the upper levels like not the special members but the respected members.