Glad to see you enjoy the game so much man haha. I always love recruiting the odd troop or so from the rest of my army and seeing how they fare and progress, I figure if they die I didn't need them anyway, but if they survive and rank up to the top then they earn a place in my heart.
Also you should look into companions, they could serve as your own body guard if you so wished and you could outfit them however you like. Make them go into a special 'group' instead of infantry/cavalry/archer for the extra body guardish feel. As a plus they don't die, only get knocked unconscious.