Now, after having played Mount and Blade, as well as using mods or glitches to gain more than one follower, this idea sprang into mind. Let's say, hypothetically, TES VI kicks off during the Second Great War. Let's say, you can join either the Dominion or the Empire. What if, as you rank up, you are given control of an NPC squad, like in F03's Operation Anchorage DLC. Would you like to be able to command a small army, maybe around twenty or thirty troops, plus you in game? Like, imagine charaging a bandit encampent or raiding and sacking towns with your band of men. I certainly would like to do that.
It's funny, because I actually had a (non-TES) version of this idea after watching the third Hobbit movie.
Basically, it was a hack-and-slash game where you controlled a "captain," leading your own personal troops into battle against an enemy force. In addition to customizing and developing your personal captain, you could level up and customize your soldiers' weapons, abilities and tactics.
It'd be interesting to see something like that put into an Elder Scrolls or Fallout game. I'd honestly love to be given a personal guard of Gen 2 synths that I could outfit and take with me when assaulting raider strongholds.
That would be pretty sweet. Also, that's kind of how Mount and Blade works. Customize your character, and your troops. You can make them into different units, and some companions you gain you can level up and outfit. You have to pay your crew though, and the more men you have, the slower you move. You can command them to charge, hold the line, advance, retreat, etc. You can besiege and potentially take over castles and towns, you can join up with a monarch, or become your own. You also have to keep morale and food supplies up.
Quite a few total conversion mods, like one has a Star Wars mod, so you could have a bunch of Mandolorians at your back, and i think there's some Elder Scrolls ones. There's a Game of Thrones one too. I don't know if there's a Fallout based one, but that would be interesting to see.