I was scanning through an enemy's army book and noticed one of their Magic items confers a 1+ armour save to the wearer. I thought 1 was a failed save regardless so would that mean it's actually a 2+ save?
It is given as 1+ so that higher strength hits can be saved a little better than if it were 2+. Essentially, anything S4 and under saves on a 2+ but yes, a 1 always fails.
oh I see, because of the strength modifier (i was forgetting that). So for instance against an S5 opponent , it'd be 3+ right? and S6 4+ ?
Yep exactly. And 1+ armour is now the best you can get. Before that restriction was in place, I had a HE character with a -1 armour save.
You used to be able to get an old blood down to -2 on a cold one but it was an academic exercise as it was a lousy build as you had to spend the entire magic allowance to do it.