Next up instead of a sub-faction overview I'm going in a little bit more depth on the Mercenaries of Trench Crusade. These are more tilted towards the Faithful as they have more, but there are quite a few very interesting options in general.
Combat Biologist- A personal favourite of mine from both a model and rules point of view, the Biologist is just cool overall. With 6" movement, -1 Armour, and only +1 in melee it is a fairly standard profile albeit cheap for 3 Glory. Coming stock with Gas Grenades and a Gas Mask is quite good too as it helps with getting Blood out on your opponents (and defends you against Gas from an opponent) while NEGATE FEAR is something I will always find useful as the matchups where it really matters it is absolutely invaluable. The Biologist brings a unique Glorious Deed for your Warband which is quite interesting and can help make its cost back quicker, although killing 3 enemies within 1" of a single model on a 32mm base is a bit of a hefty task unless your Biologist has a super lucky game. It also gets a Blessing Marker if it personally kills DEMONIC or BLACK GRAIL models in melee, which the profile is really made to do anyway so it is quite nice to have a way to make the model snowball in terms of successes. The other thing to note with the Combat Biologist is its unique weapon, the Vivisector. This behaves mostly like a Polearm with 2 special rules, namely Pain Amplifier giving you a really boosted chance of critting provided the target has Blood on them (so if you Gas Grenade you can potentially already go to critting on 10s instead of 12s) and if you do crit against a non-ARTIFICIAL model on a 40mm or smaller base (which is almost everything on a 40mm or smaller base) you can move them d3" directly away from the Biologist, forcing more attacks on the target from anyone that it leaves engagement with. Biologists really promote a dogpile style of play, and charging the Biologist into things that are already engaged is a really valid play because the enemy is likely already damaged and thus more likely to force out of combat and get hit even more times.
Communicant Anti-Tank Hunter- A fairly simple yet really good Mercenary, the Anti-Tank Hunter is a big guy with a big gun. The AMR is always incredible, when you put REGENERATE and TOUGH on top you have a merc that will always do good work on the table. Plus they just look really cool, so what's not to love
Goetic Warlock- As the name suggests, the Goetic Warlock is a Fallen Mercenary and has 2 unique Goetic Spells it can use. For its battlekit it has a fairly standard combo of Reinforced Armour and the Flaying Iron Claws, which are effectively 2 Swords that don't suffer from an off-hand penalty so you can make the most of its +1 dice in melee on both attacks. Enemies within 1" of a Goetic Warlock also get exponentially worse as they stay nearby, as they can't take a Retreat Action and gain a Blood when they activate, but also can't remove the Blood themselves while near the Warlock. Add FEAR on top of that and you have quite an annoying model to face already for 4 Glory, but that's without even looking at the Goetic Powers it has which ramp up the uses of the Warlock quite a lot. It does have the downside that it can only use Blood on enemies or friendly Wretched, so no taking it in Heretic Legions to get Blood from anyone in the Warband and super reliably heal while casting spells, but in Court you were using Wretched to fuel it anyway so this isn't a huge downside and enemies should be taking Blood fairly easily in Heretics with things like the Artillery Witch bombing and easy grenade access. The Necrotic Gaze is a 0 cost power that simply doubles the amount of Blood on the target from 24" away, with it being a Ranged Attack so at +1 dice although suffering from Cover and Long Range. If the target has no Blood then they gain one, so you will always net at least 1 Blood out of the action and there's no risk to doing it, meaning you will always use this action every activation on the Warlock provided there is a valid target. The other action, which is a little more complicated and has a cost of 2 Blood attached is Goetic Portal which is effectively a 6" teleport that can carry 1 enemy model with it. I personally love using this to kidnap enemy support pieces and drag them into your Warband where you can make the most of the Goetic Warlock's penalties, but it's also just great threat extension and a way to keep it safer on the advance, especially when combined with its regular move and dashes.
Mamluk Faris- A fairly standard profile for a not quite ELITE model with +1s for both melee and ranged, but it does have some unique rules that are pretty neat and change up how its used. It adds a FIRETEAM option to the Warband you might not normally get (or just an extra one for activation economy) but only for an ELITE, and both ignores HEAVY if it takes a Greatsword and gains ASSAULT and Shield Combo on its Jezzail. The Jezzail is also worth noting as it is on the base profile with Alchemical Ammunition, so it is really shooting at +2 dice base with ASSAULT, with a choice of either a Greatsword, a Polearm and Shield or a Sword/Axe and Pistol. The Sword and Pistol is definitely the weakest option of the 3 as you have a good heavy hitter in the Greatsword or a defensive powerhouse with the Polearm and Shield while the Pistol and Sword is just kind of ok. You do get a 2nd attack ignoring the off-hand rule but with no other bonuses like the other profiles it isn't going to be anywhere near as good for the 4 Glory. You can swap between them after any game, but you usually would swap between the Greatsword or Polearm/Shield IMO with my personal favourite going towards Polearm/Shield as I really just love that combo in general. The last thing to note is the Automaton Destrier rule which functions similarly to Infiltrators as it lets the Mamluk forward deploy, and is turned off in a scenario which denies Infiltrators, but lets you deploy from any board edge as opposed to anywhere on the board. Great for a little bit of extra board presence
Mendelist Ammo Monk- An old favourite of mine that got knocked down a few pegs in the latest changes to Mercenaries, the Ammo Monk is still quite good as a 2 Glory support piece for New Antioch or Trench Pilgrim warbands that have good shooting threats. Gone are the days of the BLAST AMR Communicant or BLAST on AUTOMATIC weapons, but being able to give bonus Injury Dice is still really good and having an Ammo Monk sitting behind a Sniper Priest at the back of the table is very useful to have in the toolbox.
Observer- Going up to 5 Glory is steep, but still more than worth it for what you get from the Observer. 2 attacks in melee with the Polearm at +2 dice means it's fairly reliable (albeit with the downside of not ignoring FEAR), plus with 8" movement it can immediately do a lot of work despite lacking a ranged weapon. It does have a Medi-kit which is nice, but less likely you use that over its other actions which are all going to be very good. Temporal Fugue for a -1 dice to attack it always, and that can't be ignored, is simply amazing, and going to -2 when it gets charged makes actually charging the Observer a really annoying prospect when you can't land hits on it. The big things that make the Observer unique though, and the reason it costs as much as it does, are Eye of God and Voice of God. Eye lets you reroll any failed rolls with the downside of going Down if you roll any 1s on the 2nd roll (something which isn't super likely to happen, and the odds of rerolling into a pass is worth the downside) while Voice of God lets you force your opponent into activating a model of your choice next, basically giving you an opportunity to get a double tap on a specific model or deny synergies in a really unique way. The power this gives over action economy can't be underestimated, and the Observer is really just a great package for what it does
Scripture Guardian- At 7 Glory this thing is super steep, although it does put in work. With Golem it is really hard to put down, and although it only attacks once it does get bonuses simply if the target has Blood (and even more so if you spend it for extra dice) plus on crits it has an absolutely ridiculous damage potential. You're investing a lot into a Scripture Guardian, and likely buying other Mercenaries before this one, but it is a nice flavour pick and can do great work on the table even just taking fire from other things in your warband.
Sin Eater- A big, TOUGH bruiser of a model for 6 Glory, the Sin Eater has quite a lot of rules text based around their unique action. They do also have quite a decent melee profile, although no ranged capabilities, and -2 Armour with FEAR. Their unique weapon, the Tenderiser Maul, has the option to either attack every enemy within 1" of it so you can do some nasty plays against players that bunch up (particularly if you're playing Heretic Legion and get an Artillery Witch bombing the clump as well) or alternatively use the Crushing Blow to get an extra Injury Modifier for if you really need to kill a single target that's bogging you down. The main reason you bring this though is for Devour the Guilty, something which is a very unique way to get either your own models up the table or take an opponent's piece off- eat it. On a friendly model it's easier, with the action not being Risky and with an extra Dice, but for opponents it's a Risky roll without any bonuses so is somewhat difficult to get off successfully, especially if you already have Blood (and I would always recommend spending Blood to make this action fail if you're against it). Once devoured a model gains a Blood every turn and is effectively off the table (they can attack, but at -3 Dice and no weapon almost nothing will reliably hit), the Sin Eater gains REGENERATE 1 so becomes even tankier, and the Sin Eater can drop them at any time they can do an Action. You can use it to get your own models up the table more reliably, have a model sit inside the Sin Eater to fuel Goetic Magic, or just lock out an important piece for the opponent and all of those options are worth doing. Sin Eater is expensive for 6 Glory but it is quite good for the cost.
Sister of Saint Cosmas- Basically the Antioch Combat Medic but for Trench Pilgrims, everything I have to say about that model in New Antioch is equally as valid here. For 2 Glory the Sister is a steal, as she can very reliably use her Medi-kit with +2 DICE, and getting extra injury dice on top of ignoring armour against Down enemies is fantastic as a finisher, particularly with her NEGATE FEAR. She's always going to be more of a utility piece and a somewhat squishy one at that, but for the low cost always something to consider as she brings a lot to the table.
Witchburner- This one is in a bit of an odd spot I feel, as the Witchburner has one of if not the coolest sculpts out of all the Mercenaries, but for 6 Glory it is a bit steep for what it does. While being able to potentially put 6 Blood on a single Fallen model in a turn between the Gavel of Justice and Divine Judgement (or 4 on Faithful, still excellent), it does only have 1 attack in melee with +2 Dice, and not being able to Dash makes for something that will be quite slow to get into the fray despite ignoring difficult terrain. It is ELITE though which means you can level it up straight off the bat, and it's harder to outright kill than most Mercenaries immediately after hiring on top of TOUGH and -2 Armour. I'd say it's not strictly the best Mercenary to take in a Warband, but really cool as a centrepiece in something like a Papal States Warband and that alone makes it worth using.
Trench Dog- While not quite a Mercenary, it functions somewhat similarly. Costs Glory to add to your warband, although as a piece of Battlekit and not simply a hire, you can also upgrade them into various different forms. They're fast and fragile, and although not super great at anything in particular they can be useful to just run to objectives and claim things early as between 8" movement and +1 to Dashes they're reliably quick. You can buy them FIRETEAM for an extra Glory, which can be useful, but fully upgrading a Dog is 3 glory so a bit of a steep investment. I really love them as a flavour option though
Mercy Dog (New Antioch only)- I've spoken about these a bit for Red Brigade, and being able to move Down models around plus having a Medi-Kit is really great all around. 2 Glory is on the pricy end, but you're getting a fair bit of utility out of it
Guard Dog (every warband other than Grail or Court)- This one I think is the least useful of the Dog variants, as forcing INFILTRATOR models to deploy slightly further away from it isn't especially useful and half the time doesn't work at all. It's a really neat idea, I just think one that's implemented in such a way that it isn't especially worth taking particularly when you have to earn Glory and it's at the expense of other Dogs.
Martyrdom Dog (Trench Pilgrims only)- This one is purely a flavour pick unfortunately, as it has a couple of downsides. It pays a Glory for a Martyrdom Device, which while nice it is basically just another Ecclesiastic Prisoner in almost every way apart from costing you 2 Glory, and it still dies outright on less then a 4+ in post-game. The investment is a bit steep I feel like for something that is very likely to die after the first time you use it.
Hellhound (Fallen Warbands only)- Extra dice on attacks, and either GAS or FIRE depending on the warband (FIRE as default, GAS for Grail and Knights of Avarice) while also being NEGATE FIRE gives you quite a decent fast threat for any warband. Knights of Avarice I think care the least about it, as you want to load up on your more elite models (and Wretched spam for bodies) but any Fallen warband can do far worse than taking a Hellhound.
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