Grunts

Additional Variations

If you want something a bit different, consider having a couple of riding dogs and their handler accompany the squad, or perhaps an irregular troop like an orc or a hobgoblin. That allows you to develop a good tactical mix of weapons, and hopefully stops the PCs from writing down what they've looted before you've even told them!

Different Races

If a race of creatures is capable of picking up weapons and fighting, then there are likely to be a lot of grunts among them.

One advantage that grunts of different races have is weapon usage. Dwarves and gnomes have weapon familiarity - certain exotic weapons are considered martial weapons in their hands. Dwarves are familiar with the urgrosh and the dwarven waraxe, while gnomes are familiar with gnome hooked hammers. Put simply, this means they have more options in combat - a dwarven warrior can go into battle dealing 1d10 points of damage without having to spend a feat on learning how to use the waraxe.

Elves have a significant advantage too: every elf knows how to use the longsword, the rapier, longbow, shortbow and all composite bows; knowledge of six martial weapons! These can improve a commoner or adept quite dramatically, although in all fairness they make bugger all difference to warriors or other classes that already know how to use all martial weapons.

Halflings make surprisingly good grunts too in a specialised kind of way. Even if the have a low Strength, they get a +1 racial bonus to attack with thrown weapons (i.e. darts, daggers, javelins) and slings, and on top of that get a +1 size bonus to AC and attack rolls. Factor in their skill bonuses and they can harass the enemy surprisingly effectively. Give it a go, and have fun with the look on the PCs' faces when they get their arses handed to them by a load of circus midgets!

Conclusion

Warriors are very much the fighter's poor cousins. They are not particularly heroic, having received basic military training and seen active service. They can just about be trusted with their armour and weapons, and though the chances of them being killed are very high, by following these guidelines, they might just last another round or two.