The concept for military bands in HOTT armies grew out of the idea of collecting together several musician figures for a special model of some sort. One thing lead to another and the Orc Drum & Bugle Horde was born.
The proposal: base up 3 musicians on a war band’s base or 5 on a horde’s base at the cost of 3 AP and deploy them with the army. All friendly troops within 600 paces receive a +1 tactical factor if they lose a combat by 1. If the musicians are undead then all enemy troops within 800 paces that tie in a combat receive a -1 tactical factor and are forced to recoil (undead have no morale so a military band will not aid them but an eerie undead band would un-nerve the enemy). Elements that are forced to recoil in this manner are not quick killed (example: a skeletal warband fighting a dwarf spear element within the area of effect of skeletal bagpipers will not quick kill the dwarves if the recoil is caused by the effect of the band). Military bands are quick killed by every other element except sneakers and clerics and have a combat factor of +1. The band element is “dismountable”, meaning that the musicians can cast aside their instruments, draw weapons, and charge into battle. Once a band “dismounts” it functions as the foot element it was based as with that elements combat outcomes and tactical factors. A dismounted band can not remount during the current battle and solely functions as a horde or warband. A horde band that is destroyed can be redeployed in the same manner as other hordes but only as a horde.