This Is Not A Test/Tactics/Freelancers

Freelancers are a double-edged sword. They can patch holes in your warbands, and many have unique skills. Others help you get around Elite/Specialist limits, especially in the mid-game while you've got some cash to burn and are waiting on promotion slots to open up.

On the other hand? You have to buy their guns and armor, which you can't take back if they die or get fired, and you can't give the model any of your Relics. Their starting skills are fixed (but usually useful). They can't be Promoted, so eventually they'll lag behind your nastiest models. You can only hire one for every 200BS of Warband Rating, although that requirement will become a non-issue very quickly

Make sure you have enough liquid assets to pay their salary for a couple games if you hire one at the start of the campaign. Freelancers can't Scavenge in the endgame, and they cost 3 BS in Upkeep after every game. Nothing sucks harder than That said, the Resourceful skill is extremely useful on any Freelancer with the Smarts tree. It pays out 1d10 BS even if the model can't get sent out to scavenge. This can be critical in the early game for smaller warbands. You have a limit of two Resourceful models, which means you're best-off putting it on ones that aren't going to be heading out in the first place -- and many of the most-useful Freelancers have access to Smarts.

Humans

Bounty Hunter - An unreliable source of extra income and gear. You can use them to troll other players in a larger campaign by Capturing dead enemies. Has access to a decent sniper/infiltrator skillset, but no Smarts.

• Usage Notes: Kind of pointless for the Peacekeepers ever since the Bloodhound showed up. Their special rules actively interfere with the Cannibals' "Hooks and Chains" wargear.

Deadman - Your basic Dwarf Slayer expy, with gallons of Rage, a deathwish he can't actually fulfill, and a strong berzerker/survival skillset. Gung-Ho means even if he does eat a bullet he'll still get his next Activation; if you activate the Deadman first every turn you're guaranteed to either get one more turn with him or make the enemy kill him twice.

• Equipment: Can't take armor. Burn your cash on a decent melee weapon (masterwork if you can afford it) and a pistol or two
• Skills: Pretty much do what you want - their skill tree is full of things that either soak up some extra fire on the way into combat, or make them more-effective once they're there. Unfazed will let the Deadman ignore Supressing Fire. The Survivalist skill means they're rolling a minumum of a "4" on the Survival Chart, and have an excellent chance of pulling a "10" for that sweet extra EXP when they get downed, so go nuts.
• Usage Notes: Unavailable to Tribals

Mercenary Gunsmith - Not all that useful as a "gunsmith" (though the skill does stack), since pretty much everyone has easy access to it. What the MG is good for is packing an infiltrating Minigun or LMG into combat. Not only does the MG take up a Freelancer slot instead of a Specialist or Elite, Field-strip effectively halves your number of Jam counters. They have access to the Marksmanship, Survival and Smarts skill trees. Always buy Up-Armed when you hire an MG, even if you don't have the money for their gun yet.

• Equipment: The biggest, jammiest gun you can find and ranged armor. Sadly, they can't take Laser miniguns or Plasma cannon, but an LMG or Minigun is an excellent choice. You can also kit one out with a Grenade Launcher, then use skills to crank up its accuracy for a more mobile option. Again, however, not being able to give them Relic grenades keeps you from taking full advantage of a GL.
• Skills: Maintainer makes jams even more trivial to clear, effectively cutting any of your support weapons down to a single Jam token when combined with Field-Strip. With a Hail of Lead/Burst weapon, you'll need to get max actions as often as possible, which Reactive will help; if you're not moving anyway, Steady Hands is also a great choice. Survivalist will keep your investment off the kill list long enough to pull the gun if he takes a crippling injury. If you pick a short-ranged weapon like grenade launchers and flamers, the various infiltration skills can be nasty. Unfortunately, Range Finder is useless with Support Weapons.
• Usage Notes: If you're looking for a flame, Relic Support, or grenade-launcher specialist, your list probably has something at least 20 BS cheaper. But the skills those 20BS pays for are brutally effective paired with a Minigun or LMG, and it'll free up a Specialist or Elite slot elsewhere. It is a good way to sneak a heavy weapon model into Renegade Reclaimers without paying the Powered Armor premium. Mutant Cannibals can likewise use a gunner model without Frailty, though Gramps has his own dirty tricks as noted above.

Merchant - Same excellent skillset as the Sawbones. Starts with Resourceful and Advantage on Haggler rolls. A Merchant can be incredibly useful in the early game for warbands with a lot of Rag-Tag models, letting you get a lot of bodies early then slowly stockpile the weapons and armor they'll need as they buy off the gear limit. They also help out Relic-heavy groups like Preservers and Renegades who need to save as much cash as possible to feed those Upkeep-hungry powered armors.

• Equipment: No special requirements. You just want him to survive into the post-game, so cheap, solid ranged gear and basic armor to start with.
• Skills: Focus on survival, then beef up as your stat increases allow.

Sawbones - One of the most useful models in the Freelancer section. Not only will that +1 on the Survival table keep a model per game off the KIA list, you can keep other models from ever needing to roll in the first place. The Sawbones itself is also a major hardass between its starting Survivalist skill, boosted base Mettle, and access to Survival and Quickness.

• Equipment: An SMG will give a good mix of ranged firepower with Burst and Compact, while still letting the model move up with the important stuff it needs to keep alive. Get the best non-Relic armor you can afford, because Medics eat a LOT of attacks.
• Skills and Advances: Focus on improving Intelligence tests ASAP. Since they have access to the Smarts tree, Clever or Resourceful should be your first skill pick. Flighty and Spring-heeled will ensure the model won't get easily pinned by enemy melee or ranged combat, while Nimble makes it more likely that you can get your double action to move and get to doctorin'. Or shooting, for that matter..
• Usage Notes: Several Warbands have cheaper native Medic specialists and elites (Preservers, Reclaimers, Down-winder Mutants, and Settlers). Between promotions and the Clever skill, they can all eventually wind up getting to the same base 8 on Medic checks.

Veteran Scout - Grants a re-draw in the Income phase. While this isn't quite as nice as "draw two, pick one", it's still useful for maximizing income. You can also just use as many re-draws as possible to churn through the Wasteland deck hunting face cards. Their other skill trees (Quickness, Marksmanship, and Survival) give you a decent, generic infiltrator.

• Equipment: SMGs and Shotguns let you use their infiltration and cover-ignoring skills. An Assault Rifle gives you a nice Overwatch tool.
• Skills: As usual, Reactive or Nimble make you more responsive. Quick gives bonuses to their Trekker rolls to ignore Difficult Terrain or break away from CC pinning. The mix of Quick and Flighty lets you block enemy LoS with close combats, then break away quickly next turn. Steady Hands usually wastes your Trekker skill, but can be useful to get an infiltrating sniper who has the ability to ditch through Difficult terrain.
• Usage Notes: Generally good in bands where you want to infiltrate but don't have enough bodies with Ranger. As with the DJ (below) he frees up a critical Elite slot for Caravanners. Basically useless for Tribals, given the readily-available Tribal Scout has a 10 BS discount and starts with exactly 1 stat point of difference.

Wasteland DJ - added in Kickstart the Wasteland. Starts with a boosted-range Motivator and a special rule that cranks up the EXP on one of your grunts if it scores any VP in the match. Has the excellent Skill mix of Leadership (which is quite rare outside Leaders), Tenacity, and Survival trees. Boosted Ranged stats.

• Equipment - you're limited to 25 BS' worth when hiring one, so pick carefully. Burst weapons work well with Assertive. You can also make an absolutely devastating NCO to coordinate a Close Combat squad
• Skills: Depends on what holes you need to fill. DJs are commanders, not brawlers
• Usage Notes: Best for warbands with good close combat skills, poor Mettle, and a Leader you'd rather not take into Close Combat. Caravanners in particular benefit from freeing up an Elite slot for Local Emissaries, since their Leader starts without access to Motivator. If you can pick up the All Together skill, a Raider DJ is excellent for sending in the Mongrels - the skill by-passes the Activation Roll and lets them charge into CC without eating your other team members. Otherwise, just use him to keep the Frothers and Firebugs in line. Tribals have the Chronicler Specialist, which does exactly the same job for a 20 BS discount - and with no wargear limits.

Wasteland Hunter - Excellent sniping skills, starting off with Steady Hands and Called Shot. The Hunter is your cheapest option in the early game to pick up Ignore Armor without Relic weapons. Once per "campaign" they can force a Wastelands Hazard to be a monster instead of Rad-zones and the like. Neat idea, kind of pointless outside one-shot games.

• Equipment - a Large Caliber Sniper Rifle or other long-ranged, single-shot gun to take advantage of their skills.

Mutant Freelancers

Rogue Psychic - Mostly useful as a cheap Psychic support, especially with the unfocused combination of Melee, Marksmanship, and Smarts skills. Their utility depends entirely on what you roll on the Powers chart. You can either gamble on a second roll on the Psychic table, go for a cheap Mutation, or pick a starting Skill. Either way, you probably shouldn't take one at the start unless you really want psi-support and don't have the option already.

Wandering Mutant - Mixed Melee, Marksmanship, and Survival skillset, with a bonus to their close combat skill. Start with two random Hidden Mutations and potentially a Detriment. Wandering muties are a bit of a crapshoot. Good Mutations mean you've just picked up a devastating close-combat specialist with a mostly-wasted Skill tree. Bad..? Well, hope you're willing to blow another 50 BS to roll again.

Robot Freelancers

Kickstart The Wasteland added a number of Robot freelancers, who can now be tacked on as either an Elite or a Freelancer. Absolutely Dangerous tacks on even more freelancers, and some special rules which give Robots much of the same flexibility as Mutants in exchange for their universal weakness to EMPs and unique Medical requirements. All Robots start with +2 DEF but cannot purchase armor later. Robots are also immune to gas and poison (but not Radiation), which is very situational until someone decides to start popping off Fear Gas grenades on top of Objectives.

Depend-o-Bot - Wanna robot? Can't be arsed to buy the supplements? This guy is pretty.. Handy. An utterly generic robot, with bonuses to its combat abilities. Cannot be taken in an Elite slot.

• Equipment: Up to one Integral weapon doesn't count against the Upgrade limit.
• Skills and Upgrades: Starts with two slots, and the generic Marksmanship/Melee/Survival combination.
• Usage Notes: This guy is up to you - there's no particularly compelling reason to take him, but there's no reason not to as long as you have the cash and you want a basic humanoid robot.

B-Ho1der - Enclave Eyebot proxy. A cheap, fast, hovering little bastard, the Beholder is very good at dropping templates into places other people don't want them to be. Keeps the standard 6+2 Defense that most Robots have, making it exceptionally difficult to kill on the way in. And to cap it off, they only cost 2 BS in the Upkeep phase.

• Equipment: 30 BS cap, and can take an Integral Flamethrower for just 15 BS. Other gear depends on whether or not you want to pay for upgrades.
• Skills and Upgrades: One slot, chosen from Quickness, Melee, or Marksmanship. Note that the Leap skill is pointless on a Hover unit, and Range Finder, Steady Hands and Called Shot likewise conflict with a flamethrower loadout. The Armless upgrade is free, fits the original proxy intent, and gives the model +1 Move. Alternately, give it some beef with an Armor upgrade, though that's going to hurt your initial budget. If you don't feel like Upgrades, a mix of Quick Charge and close combat weapons gives you a tough little brawler with a massive threat bubble to pin down enemies until its big brothers show up.
• Usage Notes: In a Robot band, consider carefully whether this guy is worth it compared to a Hovering Kill-Bot or Observer. The Preserver's Drones lose armor, freedom of movement, and Upgrade access in return for better ranged skills, Relic access, and Shoot and Scoot. Raiders get the Broiler, which winds up being substantially cheaper and has a better skirmishing skill list.

Tank-R - Tank-bots can take Support weapons and start with a tougher-than-sin Def 7(9) and 2 Wounds. Also has Trekker, so it's worth buying off Ungainly in the future if you don't buy one with Treads. The Tank-R is an ungodly expensive choice that will take a long-ass time to pay off. Despite their poor mobility and neutered skill-tree (limited to Marksmanship and Survival), a TANK-R is great at straight-up deleting enemy models.

• Equipment: 40 BS cap. An integral Missile Launcher, cheap backup melee weapon and a pistol is good if you want to make powered armor go away. You can give it other backups later.
• Skills and Upgrades: No standard Upgrade slots, one free Integral. Called Shot mixes well with Missiles if you're sick of enemy powered armor or heavy robots.
• Usage Notes: If you're a Robot player and really want a tank, go for the Kill-Bot with a Warbot upgrade. Otherwise, this is as good as you get. At 115+ points, a TANK-R is a Hell of an investment for something that straight-up locks up for two turns when you roll a "1" to activate it..

Mister Coteau - An absolutely brutal close combat specialist, packing the Brawn, Melee, and Quickness trees. If it can take a model out of action in melee, it pays its own Upkeep for the game as well.

• Equipment: 30 BS cap, one Integral for free. You start with a whopping 7 Melee, so paired weapons aren't as useful as making sure you have the raw Strength to drop opponents quickly. A Masterwork Heavy Weapon costs 10 BS and a Mauler only 16, leaving plenty for a backup gun. War Totems, and similar hardware.
• Skills and Upgrades: Starts with Against All Odds and Flurry, but no generic Upgrade slots. The Hover mobility type is good on most melee combatants, and combines well with Spring-Heeled if it Malfs. Quick Charge will get the model into CC faster (especially combined with Recon), and Flurry means it will still get multiple attack rolls when it does. If you're feeling particularly lucky, tack on Blitzer for an essentially guaranteed kill.. as long as you can hit. Opportunist is always useful when taking on enemy CC units, while Brute makes a 2-handed CCW even more effective.
• Usage Notes: Needs to get and stay in Close Combat to pay its way. The model is extremely expensive, but a very nasty surprise if you otherwise have poor melee options.

Mad Roboticist - A Robot Medic. That's pretty much it, though Roboticists start with Clever instead of the Sawbones' Survivalist - better at healing, more-likely to die if they get taken out.