Individuals/Character System Ideas?

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**Kingsley**

I'm working on a set of homebrew design-anything rules, and the basic mechanics (alternating activations, d10s) seem to be down fine. Now, though, a lot of things need to be refined. Right now, I'm looking at ideas for making "individuals", this game's version of 40K Independent Characters or Ætherverse Personalities. My goal is to have two types, leaders and fighters. Of these, leaders give bonuses to other models, while fighters are simply good at killing. Anyway, the problem is that Individuals have to be balanced with squads, but also modular enough that you can create a whole bunch of different types. I have, however, managed to work out an idea for the "level system" (maximum ten, as usual):

Level 1: A normal soldier, but on his own.
Level 2: A veteran type. Equivalent to a normal model from a Veteran unit.
Level 3: A veteran sergeant or simlar elite troop.
Level 4: An elite fighter or minor leader.
Level 5: A minor hero or standard officer/leader.
Level 6: A hero or good commander.
Level 7: A renowned hero or excellent commander.
Level 8: A legendary hero or commander.
Level 9: A near-demigod, such as Hercules.
Level 10: Completely ridiculous levels of power. Think of Achilles or similar nigh-invulnerable characters.

It should be obvious from the descriptions that level 7 or so should be the absolute maximum that's seen in most games, and the costs are going to reflect that.

Can anyone think of ideas on where to go from here? What sort of advantages should individuals get? I was considering giving stat boosts for each level (perhaps two levels?), but this is likely too powerful. In addition, they'll probably be able to get extra wounds. The key is to keep things somewhat realistic, but still allowing for "heroic" characters.