Hirelings — some specialists

Click to embiggen! Not all of these guys were sold as hirelings & henchmen but that is how I think of them. On the far left, the Grenadier halfling lookouts, one of my all-time favorite models. Next to them is a Grenadier AD&D thief throwing oil, and a hireling, the door-spiker.  Last is an elf squire made by WizKids for the MageKnight game, rebased and repainted.

The halflings I think of as a pair of ne’er-do-wells who hire their services as look-outs and as camp watch.  Being keen-eared and sharp eyed, they make very good look-outs by night or day, but owe their success primarily to the fact that they work cheaply (two for the price of one).  They usually get fired when the adventurers they work for realize that the lookouts eat as much as four adult humans, and this is usually noticed only when rations run out, because the two abuse their trust and gorge themselves from the party’s supplies while on night watch duty.

The oil-thrower is a specialist who commands a high salary due to the dangerousness of his job, but any party fighting trolls will be glad to have him.

The door-spiker is pretty self-explanatory.  He will spike unopened doors as the party advances into a dungeon in order to prevent the party from being outflanked by monsters wandering out from rooms the party hasn’t cleared yet.  In the event of a hasty retreat, he will spike any doors the party’s stronger characters hold shut.

The elf squire is more of a caddy than a knight-in-training; he just keeps spare weapons handy, which is kind of demeaning for an elf.  Maybe he ‘s been disgraced back home?

When I finish the remaining hirelings on my work table I’ll post the final installment of the Occupational Outlook series: Specialists.