I picked up the Wizard MicroGame in high school or maybe early college. It was not very fun, as we quickly figured out that the most advantageous strategy was to summon a Wolf minion, which multiplied your attack capabilities. Also, dice randomness was poorly scaled to other game constructs like hit points, making sheer luck as decisive as strategy.
This was all wayyyy before anyone in the TTRPG community was talking about "action economy". Back in the 1e/2e days, it was noncontroversial to buy wardogs, hire back-line support, summon familiars, Call Woodland Beings, Summon Monsters, etc.
Fast forward to mid-2014 when 5e was released, there's a very clear consciousness of game balance and lively combat flow regulated by "action economy". Classes with spectacular powers (e.g. Fireball) only get limited uses of them per in-game day, while more mundane classes get Extra Attack, "offhand" Bonus Action attacks, more opportunities to use their Reactions to riposte or whatever, and more options to add points or dice to their damage rolls. Minion features are limited and the resulting familiars, beast companions, homunculi or whatever are usually quite weak. Yes, you could use feats and multiclassing to accumulate a small gang of ONE familiar, ONE homunculus, ONE Beast Companion, ONE Steed, and maybe ONE summon from a Bag of Tricks... but now you have a different action-economy problem as several of these must be commanded every turn, using your Bonus Action. You only get one Bonus Action, so most of your goons will just be sitting there scratching fleas.
If your players aren't abusing the squad-of-minions concept then as a DM I would allow a "standing orders" option instead of forcing them to spend their bonus action barking orders every round. And remember, familiars et al are usually quite fragile and deal minimal damage, so even an arguable abuse case can't get that far out of hand.