[aaminoff]

> I'd strongly hesitate to send a Thug with enough bodyguards to trip the 75% hp retreat, unless they're close to as tough as he is.

This is critical. In general, a thug is designed to be able to fight without taking any damage for a very long time. You usually optimize thugs' equipment/buffs for defensive capabilities (protection, awe, defense, reinvig) and assume that given enough time the thug can kill PD with their natural attacks. Banes/Bane lords are a good example of this: If you ever try to use them together with an army, they will be almost useless because of their slow movement; by the time they do anything useful the rest of the army will either have won or be routed.

Bodyguards are sometimes useful, especially when they occupy the same square as the thug. So you will see Helheim helkarls with one mounted sacred; Caelum Eagle Kings with one Yazata, Kailasa yakshas (?) with one summonable sacred. Are there any size 2 thug types? Ulm perhaps? In that case I could see putting in 2 bodyguards to fill the square. The reason you want to do this is it halves or thirds the number of incoming attacks; this is important if you are relying on awe/defense.