I've noticed a definate problem in the Horde of Things concept, it frequently devolves into a single character taking a half hour or more to roll for his entire baggage train of attendants and no one else in the party getting to do anything because the enemies are dead by the time the Hoarder is done. So I propose the following way for any Horde of Things concept(from leadership to animal companions) to work:
You have a small number of "elite" troops that follow you arround and act at your initiative roll but with their own modifier(itself modified by a penalty equal to the disparity between your level and theirs, min. 2, as the cohort level min.), only acting before you if they have standing orders. This allows other characters(ie, you roll a 14, your mod is +1 and your cohort's mod is +4(+2 after the leadership mod.), your cohort goes a turn before you IF he has standing orders, such as "attack things with obviously hostile intentions towards us", if he doesn't, he acts at your initiative, just after you, but not actually on your turn, and you have to give him orders before he can act) this way other characters have more of a chance to act, but your concept isn't worthless. You can also use your Horde of Things ability to muster a standing armour when the occasion calls for it which will include peon troops, generals, seargents, etc. which will accomplish lesser goals that are still important while you, your bodyguard, and your party go on to confront/tackle the larger, more important, and more glorious challenge.
For example, the Necromancer has "Undead Horde" as his HoT ability, he is usually followed by a number of elite units no greater than his cha, with a CR no greater than his level minus 2, so let's say he's fifth level and has an 18 cha. He is usually followed by four Ghasts, which act with a +1 cha bonus, compared to his +3(X), so he acts, then there's Init X-1, then his ghouls act at Init X-2, then combat goes on from Init X-3. Later in the campaign, when the BBEG rises up with his little peon army which attacks a kingdom, but remains safely ensconced in his tower. The Necromancer musters up an army of skeletons, zombies, ghouls, and maybe some low level vamps as generals. The army and three of his ghasts go out to aid the kingdom's army in fighting off the nameless hordes of King Daxall, while the Necromancer, his Ghast bodyguard named Fred, and his party infiltrate King Daxall's Tower and seek him out for a personal confrontation.
Example 2: The Druid and her Horde of Nature. She is level 10 and has Cha 22 before items because she's a human who chose to make her bonus to cha and invested her stat boosts into it to have a better personal guard. So this Druid is followed around by 6 CR8 or less "natural" creatures, let's say it's a Gargantuan Monstrous Spider(Init Mod +1 after HoT mod) with a Howdah on it's back, and a family of 5 Dire Tigers(Init Mod +0 after HoT mod). So she runs around with a +5 Init mod(maybe she took Imp. Init.), and acts at Init (Roll)+5(Y), her Tigers act at Init Y-5, a turn after her spider at Init Y-4. When King Daxall sends his standing army of goblins or whatever at the Good Kingdom she muster her little Nature Army full of CR7 and lower natural critters, plus 5 of her personal guard(probably the tigers) to help out the Good Army, while she takes her 6th personal guard(likely her spider, as it has no Int. score and can't really act under standing orders) and she and her party bust into King Daxall's tower to kick Big Bad Evil Ass.