NPC allies

How are people handling fights where the PCs have NPCs on their side?  I think I'm headed into a fight where two PCs have three or four NPCs on their side up against a small gang.  I am considering having the NPCs cumulatively be able to do one Harm every tick.  The NPC's lives will depend on the rolls of the PCs whenever I give them ugly choices.  What rules might I be missing or what rules should I keep in mind?

Also, a small gang (~15 souls) is treated as such for all purposes until they are reduced to one or two guys, yeah?

I treat the NPCs as an appropriate-sized group. In the last game I had a gang of people led by a PC take on a few guys (NPCs). The PC rolled seize by force, got a partial success, so then I did the math of the harm trading hard for harm.

And the +/- Harm inflicted?  Just a wash somewhere in the middle?  I think I know how to handle one or two guys against 15.  It just seems to get pretty muddy when it's more like 6 against 15.  And then maybe 5 against 12, etc.

The rules for when a gang breaks should offer you relief. A gang will usually break and flee before it changes size.

If for some reason this particular gang won't break and flee, then yeah, you'll have to make a call about precisely how many people make what size of gang. I recommend that you make the call case-by-case and in the moment, not by deciding up-front.

-Vincent