I too like the idea of me being a faceless, voiceless and nameless commander – as stated like in XCOM or by all means in DoW2. It helps me feel like a commander, an officer rather than one of the goons that do the fighting.
Might I suggest different modes, one where the commander is incorporeal and one where the commander is on the field. Maybe you can choose to field yourself in a combat – if (s)he dies then the game is over but your men are at the same time less prone to run away. Maybe the commander could be more fleshed out, like that you could actually aquire levels and have traits and stuff and it would be less of the feeling that you is just in a cosmic netherplane somewhere.
