Hardy Mail is 2 armor on a 3+ with keep. (Bronze, Common) Thick Hide Armor is 2 armor on a 3+ with keep, plus a discard to move 1. (Bronze, Common) So either i'm missing something or one of these cards is over or under valued.
I haven't actually checked, but does Halt preventing Thick Hide Armor and similar armor from triggering ? Most card's rarity/quality level are not up to where they should be. While 90% of the time Thick Hide Armor is better than Hardy Mail, sometimes revealing (by taking dmg and the armor trigger) that you currently have move card available is a bad idea, especially as a warrior. What you want to do is to surprise them and bash their faces in. The card could move up to Silver, but I think Bronze Rare should be fine. These doesn't have to be crazy accurate, what matter most is the distribution of such card on item that make up the balance.
Like this? Reliable Scale Mail Uncommon level 9 heavy armor requiring 1 blue talent. 3x Hardy Mail Tough Hide Shirt Uncommon level 9 heavy armor requiring 1 blue talent. 3x Thick Hide
Thick Hide are most of the time better, but not strictly (always) better. Reliable Scale Mail is not useless for this reason. For the discussion of strictly better items, check this thread.
So many ifs and buts that it's not really worth considering. Your opponent knowing you have a more powerful card gives them more power to make decisions, but that doesn't make your card less powerful. At any rate, i'm not saying one card should be eliminated - i'm saying its quality or level or whatever needs to be adjusted.
