Getting hirelings and henchmen to work in Pathfinder without choking the system?

[Mok]

I'd like to bring some old school feel back to Pathfinder with the use of hirelings and henchmen.

The real stumbling block I have though is that the battlegrid system isn't very friendly to large numbers of combatants. 5-foot steps, attacks of opportunity, and so on already bog down combat as is with a handful of actors on the field. If you add in another dozen or so you can make things drag out far too long.

So I'm trying to figure out ways to make hirelings and henchmen have a special stripped down status that removes a lot of the tactical decision making that you normally do with the system, and in that way hopefully be able to have these small mobs have a presence in combat, but not cause it go move at a glacial pace.

Has anyone tried to tackle this before?

[Mike Schneider]

The way PFS does it is that retainers do not have stats (save what is provided), representative minis, and do not participate in encounters or do anything other than their assigned task (e.g., a "porter" just carries your stuff).