Shambler Thralls?

[Salamander8]

I was wondering what other people thought of these guys. I'm currently in a very long and drawn-out SP game as EA R'leyh and due to the Mind Lord's lack of magic item slots (2 misc, and 1 of these has to be an Amulet of the Fish to pursue my land opponents) and inherent command abilities (10 normal and 165 magical), I tend to fill them up with quite a few of these guys. I use less of them in Dom2 as R'Leyh and as MA R'Leyh thanks in part to the Void Gate summons, but I still used some of them to 'bulk up' my infantry blocks. They don't rout and are fairly large and trample, but they still seem to die a lot. The lack of protection is a large factor here I know, but what are other peoples' opinions on these guys?