I’m happy with the limitations, stops overly abusive units being taken (some of the god-like characters) for example no one would like to see allarielle hanging out with an army of stormcasts ;D
I reckon there should be a ‘you can spend as many points as you like’ but any mercenary unit either comes in later in the game or leaves early rule - kind of a you are payed to do a job - do said job then leave
What about the following? - Questionable loyalty: At the start of each turn roll a dice for each mercenary if it's lower or equal to the turn number the unit flees. Add 1 to the result for every nearby hero from your allegiance. It stops you from taking too large a force as they're liable to desert you. But it also gives you some measure of control over it by using your heroes to keep them in check. Or - Inefficient command:wheneever you target an enemy unit with an attack spell or ability roll a dice, on a 1 your opponent may pick a different (applicable) target. It might be a tad complicated but it definitly fits with the theme of mercenaries and all the issues that brings into an army.
Yeah I think rules like that could keep it in check - I don’t really imagine many will use too many allies anyway as most armies now(or soon) have plenty of synergised options but there will always be someone
i like the first one it sounds like a good challenge between good hero coverage and a chance of losing your merks
I could also imagine giving them a bravery debuff (like in: half their bravery). Mercenaries work well when everything is fine, but as soon as something bad happens they will run.
Halving their bravery probably won't work in a lot of situations. Too many ways of negating battleshock. Plus it does nothing for single model-units. Hence my suggestion with questionable loyalty, that'd work regardless of other bravery and battleshock modifiers. Plus, halving bravery will have weird interactions with things like Kroak's dead for innumerable ages and certain spells and effects.