Pantheon of Heroes

Great feats are necessary, and a common occurrence in warhammer 40k. So obviously we strive to field these heroes, and its an easy way to add "character" to an army. HOWEVER, I believe instead of a select few mighty heroes that are sprinkled throughout each codex, I think every fighting man is a hero. So that said, I either want the ability to field multiple of the "same" hero, or be able to make my own. Most often I just make my own, and regardless of characters, everyone in my army has a name, and unit number. If I could, I'd give them each a special rule, no matter the point cost. But this is not so, and probably I'm better off without it. BUT, the point of all this is just to ask the question, why can't we make our own heroes within the confines of the rulebook? How hard can it be? Give me a few special rules, give them a points value, and let me select the weapons, and equipment. Codex heroes could still exist, as cheaper versions of custom heroes, but they would have downsides, like for example commander chenkov is decent in leadership, but he only packs a bolt pistol and chainsword, making him pretty mediocre in CC, so he would be cheaper than a model with his same special rules, but better equipment.

Of course I at least, will always want more special rules than they can give. But who cares?

In campaigns I always strive to give everyone involved a special character that we made up and gave a points value for. If they die, your army has to make a morale check or fall back, and there are super huge bonuses if they survive all the way to the final battle, but if they participate in a battle and win, then they get other cool rules, at the risk of them dying in the battle. Even if their model dies in battle, they are able to cling to life and are brought back after resting from one battle for 5+ determining whether they make it in the medicae facility, bio chamber or what have you. Anywho, you don't have to field your character until the final battle, but if it's their first major battle of the campaign, then they aren't going to be as skilled as a hero who has been slugging it out all campaign. Lets say that one of the characters is removed from play in the last battle, and they make their 5+ save to keep them alive for the campaign purposes, but the next battle is the final battle. At that point I let them fight, however, they only have one wound, to represent their unhealed injuries.

Finally, I just want to cover mini-heroes. When I say that I would give each of my characters a special rule if I could, I mean it. For example, 1st Sergeant Buln, he's in command of red squad (my favorite) I would give him stubborn, a shotgun, a bolt pistol, and a CC weapon, as well as carapace armor and BS 4, even though he's only a standard guardsmen sergeant. Corporal Coe I would give BS 2 but I would make his 5+ save invulnerable. Little things, complex things, but I like that, I like that alot, despite the overwhelmingness of individual characters making up a 150+ army.