What are mercenaries worth really?

[Daedalus]

Of course, the value of the swordsman (as well as other mercenaries) is heavily increased with the assumption that white shields are his blocking power.
Throughout these quests the heroes encounter numerous evil mercenaries; despite having the same stats nobody has any issue that these mercenaries must roll black shields in defense.
The quest booklet does not specify what type of shields the mercenaries require when hired by a hero.. . .

While only Wizards of Morcar explicitly states Men-at-Arms roll white shields to defend, p.5 of the Barbarian Quest Pack does makes reference to how Mercenaries defend consistent with the NA Instruction Booklet.

. . . In some Quests, Mercenaries serve as evil monsters who oppose the Heroes. Whenever a Mercenary is shown on a Quest Map, it should
be considered a monster controlled by Zargon.. . .

A Mercenary is controlled by the Hero who hired him.. . . A
Mercenary can move, open doors, attack and defend as a Hero, . . .

Monsters, including evil Mercenaries considered as monsters, are controlled by Zargon and roll black shields to defend. Player-controlled Mercenaries defend as Heroes, so they roll white shields to defend.

[Kurgan]

I totally forgot about Mercs opening doors. So the bad guy mercs can open doors too, logically. A rare ability for monsters...

[cynthialee]

I totally forgot about Mercs opening doors. So the bad guy mercs can open doors too, logically. A rare ability for monsters...

well if you put it in the quest notes for a particular mission that monsters may open and shut doors,,,,then the rules allow such a thing.
You put it in the quest notes for your missions and that makes it kosher

[Kurgan]

True. And only a monster that has his piece on the board can do stuff anyhow, but I'm wondering if the evil Mercenaries were intended to be able to open doors just right off the bat?

[Daedalus]

Not right off the bat, no. "Whenever a Mercenary is shown on a Quest Map, it should be considered a monster controlled by Zargon." Being classified as a monster, this indicates it observes general monster restrictions such as not being permitted to open doors. Cynthialee's point about Quest notes overriding this restriction is still valid, of course.

Only two paragraphs later (not evident from the condensed quote of my earlier post) is opening doors discussed. Reading it in context, it can be understood this ability is meant to apply only to Mercenaries controlled by Heroes, as outlined in that same paragraph.

[Kurgan]

I agree and thanks for clarifying! So bosses opening doors (like the WOM, various characters in other quest packs) are special cases, based on quest notes, not general rules. Makes sense. IF every evil merc (a plentiful foe in the Dark Company) could just open doors, that would be a game-changer since they could activate every room, potentially!

These guys are loosely inspired by historical Swiss Mercenaries aren't they? Outfits and weaponry look similar anyway (these and the Imperial foot soldiers from BattleMasters).