Building an army

[MasterMercury]

So, I just got Volo's guide as a gift. I began reading through it, and i really liked how Gnolls and Beholders had tables for determining how many of what go into their lairs and war bands.
I like having these tools to make my life a bit easier.

Then I got to Goblinoids. Three races that combine to form giant war parties, with slaves and creatures and all kind of stuff. But then, there is no guidance beyond the fact that it varies a lot, basically a "do what you want".

Anyways, I'm building this whole goblinoid army for a campaign, and I was wondering if anyone had any tips for building it, or advice. How many hobgoblins? Goblins? Bugbears? Other creatures?

[lunaticfringe]

Orcs, Ogres, Trolls, Dire Wolves, Worgs, Winter Wolves, Hill Giants, Ettins, Giant Spiders, Manticores, Lizardfolk, the occasional younger age category Dragon are all possible and have been used in WoTC/TSR fiction. So sky's the limit I think.

How big is the total army?

[Armored Walrus]

Do you need to know the specific numbers of each creature in the army? Will your party be facing them directly and will you be rolling for each member of the army individually?

I think it's more likely that you just need to build some encounters using a mix of the races and potential slaves/henchmen/pets to make interesting combats.

[MasterMercury]

Orcs, Ogres, Trolls, Dire Wolves, Worgs, Winter Wolves, Hill Giants, Ettins, Giant Spiders, Manticores, Lizardfolk, the occasional younger age category Dragon are all possible and have been used in WoTC/TSR fiction. So sky's the limit I think.

How big is the total army?

Like, one large hobgoblin legion, a goblin tribe, and a bugbear clan combined after finding a Stygian spring that made magic weapons.

I'm thinking more goblins than hobgoblins, but only 40 or so bugbears in the army. A legion of maybe 150 hobgoblins, and maybe 200 goblins. Plus misc. creatures and others.

The idea is that this army is spread over "Mordor", and is planning on marching out, so most of the army is concentrated in one place. The party has to infiltrate it and destroy the spring.