Heroes
Choosing your Heroes
Any HQ choice shall suffice for this task much like for your Warlord, but I would recommend that you choose something truly heroic or terrifying as well as make it fit with your fluff. For example, don't pick a Cadre Fireblade to lead your armies against those of your foes.Another viable option is to select Unique Characters, rather than trying to make up your very own character of heroic status. This may take some of the fun out of it for the players, but it will definitely help things run smoother.
Representation
Of course you can't just say that your hero is always on the front lines seeing how no way is it even possible, unless of course the guy was able to clone himself x2000000 and then have a teleporter with an infinite range, infinite charge and no cooldown. I doubt that's going to happen even in the Grim Future of 40k.So, the best way to limit people from trying to unrealistically do silly things like the above example is to represent the Hero and his underlings on the map, much like Dawn of War. Use any little model or representing factor you want (piece of paper for simplicity) and force the player to provide an exact location by doing so. Besides, what enemy doesn't know the approximate whereabouts of his greatest foe?
Rule Differences
Do keep in mind, this isn't some "Warlord" for your army, but a hero, a true person (or beast) that inspires awe in their troops (or underlings) through fear or courage. They aren't some one time wonder commander of a small force, but instead a general organizing, planning and instructing on how exactly to conquer a whole planet (that's kind of a big deal)! With this in mind, they really should strive to be something different rather than providing them with an uncertain Warlord trait.
Rather than randomly assigning Warlord traits all players should be given a more "secure" way of attaching to their favorite trait. Rather than a single roll on one table, provide them with a few on a couple of the tables. A fine example could be allow each player to roll three times on one table from their codex and one from the rulebook (or two from the rulebook). Or any other suitable compromise. This should allow Heroes to feel a little more like masters of their given tactics and strategies rather than some random commander thrown into an oblivious army. However; Unique Characters that come with said traits do not get to choose their own. They are already masters of their given styles and they can't randomly forget their old ways and learn new ones
"Commander Shadowsun, what's the next plan of attack?"
"We should charge the human's front line with everything we have! If we're unsuccessful, then we shall do it again in two hours!"
"But Commander, we're a stealth task force, we don't specialize in charges."
"......Hmmm. Charge them anyway!"
Doesn't make too much sense to me.
Not only should they themselves be capable of great deeds, but so should the men that they lead. An army under the command of a hero will be able to capture territories on the map more easily (by adding modifier to the die roll if you choose this option or territory conquests) and so on the defense should his troops be more stalwart (a negative modifier to enemy capture rolls if you choose the "roll for conquest" option). Also, consider giving Heroes army wide bonuses or auras to aid their troops (think more powerful Warlord traits).
Heroes should definitely play differently then your standard Warlord and they should feel truly unique for each player. If you plan on using them in your campaigns then try to make these characters truly stand out!
Modelling
Heroes should look different then the rest of your troops. They are the most terrifying, intimidating, awe inspiring, bravest and toughest people you can put out on the front lines. Try to encourage people to make them different from the average HQ choice rather than putting on a typical model and saying "Captain Blah here will be the most awesome guy in the galaxy and he will vanquish his foes," when all that is there happens to be the lower half of a Terminator.
Defeat
Even though they have reputations long enough to keep bards rattling on for hours, it doesn't mean they won't die. Players will more than likely lose these characters and not much can be done for them. Once they're dead, they're dead.
However; a much more viable option to save massive amounts of heart ache and hateful banter is to allow heroes access to highly advance pieces of technology that will revive them from the most grave of wounds. If they fall in combat, then allow the controlling player to revive the hero and then place them on any adjacent friendly territory or on their stronghold (if using this option).
Another option is to force players to wait a certain amount of turns before heroes can come back into the fray. Say that O'Shera fell victim to a Carnifex's mighty claw. I would have to wait two campaign turns until I can start utilizing the fellow again.
Movement
Since heroes are represent on the map this means that they have a very specific location as well. This would require some form of movement implementation within your campaign to fully use them.
You could follow the Dawn of War idea by only allowing Heroes and their armies to move one tile at a time or do more of a Risk thing by saying they can move through multiple friendly tiles, but not attack an enemy that turn or move once and then attack one adjacent tile.
As long as Heroes aren't every where and fighting off everything you will most definitely be doing a fine job utilizing them.
Veterans
Every battle features the tales of some lucky shots from a lone trooper who was able to take out a whole enemy squad, but it is the task of the Veteran to make sure this happens every time. These warriors are not familiar with the ideals of war, but instead they live them and they love them. They will be able to recite the manual of their chosen weapon from back to front or they might know the weaknesses of their most hated foe better than any scholar. These soldiers aren't your green recruits with no experience, they have lived through many battles once before and they plan to do so again.
These unique units should be almost exactly like Heroes except they will have limits on the amount of experience they gain, restrictions on skills they learn and movement.
Representation
They could be used as separate entities from your Heroes, but this might get kind of confusing with all of the Hero models running around on your maps as well as the buildings and locations.
Another idea is to link them with your Hero's army, thus making Heroes an even more essential part of your army.
A third option is just to say that those veterans are in every force that your faction deploys. Once a special ops team is formed and your Hero learns of their value to the invasion/defense, then he will order multiple teams like that one to be trained.
Death
Unlike heroes, these guys don't really have some obscene legacy to their names, just some heroic deeds or tales of great performances on the field. Once they're gone they really are gone. No advanced technology will heal them or resurrect them.
However, you will be able to create more veteran squads from your regular ones (if you desire to play this way).
More Veterans, More Problems
Once a unit performs well enough on the field they will acquire a unique trait and become a veteran. Something that should be taken into consideration is the amount of veteran squads you can have and the ease that different units obtain the rank of "veteran".
I would say that you should limit veterans to about three per player and try not to allow players to have them all in one place along with their hero. That would be pretty brutal for their opponents if one player ran around with a hero and three veteran units in one army.
Obtaining veterancy will be mentioned in the "Gaining Experience" article that I'll write later.
Power Overwhelming
Veteran units should have a max obtainable level/number of skills compared to units. This will be covered more indepth later, but to give you folks some food for thought, you should try to cap them at level one or two so they don't get too powerful, but still have enough power to give them an edge.
Veterans and Heroes can really help liven up a campaign, especially a global one. They make each army truly unique in their play styles and give players something to truly call their own, inspire them to write their own fluff as well as encourage them to model some interesting centerpieces.
As I said before, if you have any questions or need some clarification on this episode of Global Warfare, then feel free to contact me via e-mail or the comments section. I would be more than happy to help you guys run your own campaigns!