Ok I’m sure I’m missing the forest for the trees but…
What page are the stats for ‘Normal Men’ on? What are their hd and weapon/armor profs? Please give me the pg because I cannot find it.
Also are the mercenaries you hire level 1 fighters or normal Men?
Dind’t find them either. those listed are all 1st level fighters. here are the stats derived from b/x converted to ACKS
% In Lair: 50%
Dungeon Enc: 1d4
Wilderness Enc: 1d20
Alignment: Any
Movement: 120 (40)
AC: 0
HD: 1-4 hp
Attack: 1 weapon
Damage: by weapon
Save As: Normal Human
Morale: -2
TT: Nil
XP: Nil
According to ACKS’s CR p.49: “…mercenaries…will have equipment appropriate to their profession, class, or level…”
So i assume, a mercenary can be of any class and level and even be a normal human (0th level mercenary)
Most (75%) of mercenaries are 0th level. 25% are 1st level fighters or explorers.
I apologize that I wasn’t more specific about this in the Core Rules, but it is detailed in Domains at War.
Cool. What about the stats for a normal man? Are those above official? Do henchmen start with a -2 morale? What weapons and armor can they use?
Conscripted peasants are normal men. They have 1d4 hit points each, fight and save as normal men, and have -2 morale. Such conscripts can be improved through training.
Mercenaries are also normal men, but their training has made them slightly better in combat. They have 1d4+1 hit points each, fight and save as normal men, and have morale appropriate to their level of training (generally +0 to +2).
Veteran mercenaries are 1st level fighters. They have 1d8 hit points* each, fight and save as fighters, do +1 damage with their weapons, and have morale scores 1 point higher than the morale they had as 0th level fighters.
*In general consider 1d4 to provide 3 hit points, 1d4+1 to provide 4 hit points, and 1d8 to provide 5 hit points. A mercenary would never lose hit points by becoming a veteran.
since i cannot edit post:
XP should be 5
Morale is 6 in B/X - this translates to -2 ACKS
these are the official B/X stats adjusted for ACKS
Cool thanks for that Alex. So normal men can use any gear I take it? And these morale rules don’t have any impact on retainers I take it?
Normal men can use any gear, they are just terrible with all of it. 
(Note that a mage can also fight with a sword as a normal man, so it isn’t that normal men are privileged experts or something).
I apologize for thread necromancy but I’m still a little fuzzy on what I need to know about a mercenary. Is it important to know what their str (or dex for bowmen) modifiers are? Aside from not going into dungeons, are they willing to go on wilderness expeditions? How much of a share of the spoils of a campaign does 1 mercenary generally expect to get?
I would not use str dex or any other attribute for that for mercs. to much a hassle for nothing. leave them at average attribute scores. as for wilderness expeditions: depends on what they are hired for. normal merc-duty is guarding a camp/fortress/caravan, patrolling routes/areas, fighting in a war, etc. so i woulkd say mercs are usually willing to go on wilderness expeditions. as for shares: mercs do not receive shares, they are paid wages.
I was just going off of the part that says that if they go on military campaigns they expect a share of the spoils. would that be better interpreted as them getting better-than-average wages?