trying to decide which units suit a mercenary force best

Hi

I've been thinking for a while now, (dangerous I know) about a mercenary force of ogres, the problem is what units to include, i'm in the process of writing some fluff about a banished bruiser and his pilgrimage to the great maw and how he finds other lost souls and outcasts on his travels, his group of ogres go on to attack the paddy fields on the outskirts of Grand Cathay there they end up in the employment of the imperial army and are sent forth to battle the hobgoblin wolf riders that terrorise the Great Bastion after years of wolf pelt collecting the old bruiser forms an alliance with the hogoblin horde. Now that gives me an excuse to use dogs of war wolf riders I just need help in coming up with the right amout of characters and units to fit in with his rough outline of fluff. Any comments would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers
Spawnchomper

I think a mercenary force would have a minimum of characters; just your banished Butcher and a Bruiser kitted out to look like a Maneater done good for himself.
For Core choices I would avoid too many Ironguts for fluff reasons, have a unit to show a kind of evolution from Bull to Irongut to Maneater. Trappers are a must as always, but they can be treated as manbiters, very intrepid, but still daft, Gnoblars.
Leadbelchers are the best idea for Special, Maneaters who have taken a fancy to using Cannons. Yhetees are a strict no-no since they don't leave the mountains unless summoned by a Tribe. Scraplaunchers are a maybe.

And of course, Maneaters. If you were desperate you could field a gorger and say it was a mercenary who got mutated in the baleful desert.

there are a few other things about mercenary forces... ranks. Mercenary forces have *very* defined ranks as opposed to a regular tribe headed to war. rank determines pay. for instance - in my own army, each unit is a 3-ogre team that has trained together under a sergeant. The sergeant isn't really better than the other ogres, he just yells the loudest (bellower) and gets more pay.

also a necesary model is a paymaster (sometimes i use a bruiser, sometimes a maneater, sometimes I make him the BSB).

a mercenary army can be said to eat by reputation. a general will go to great lengths to inflate his own reputation because that is why people hire his army. He needs to be a salesmen to those in need of his services, and a ruthless terror to his enemies and often his own men. a mercenary is more than willing to kill for money... but dying isn't a good way to make a living.

so how does your general lead his men to their death? Greed? Fear? Pride? kinship? i my own army, the general uses fear to keep the youngest recruits in line; then pride, as they are advanced in rank and skill and given medals and command; then kinship, when they are initiated into the ranks of Irongut.

Another way to decide on units would be to peruse the Dogs of War list, and attempt to draw parallels with units from there and from the Ogre Kingdoms list. Any similarities would be viable choices as an Ogre mercenary army would adapt to follow the example of Dogs of War. This method also gives you a modelling theme for your units. For example, Trappers are the equivalent of Duellists or Halflings in a DoW army, therefore, you could make a bunch of hairy-footed Trappers, or Trappers in duelling gear with pistols and swords.