ORIGINAL: markhwalker
To be honest I sometimes think.... and this is almost 11 years after I designed the game, that heroes pop up too often. The number of heroes would be hard to change without a rewrite on some of the scenarios, but we might be able to tweak the probability, but then again... that would deviate from the board game.
I guess it's completely unrealistic to change the system now, but what do you think of a house rule that replaces the 'second die must be even'-rule with:
If the second die is 6 or higher, you get a hero. Modify the roll by adding the number of shaken squads that was in the hex before the attackers roll (not those that become shaken as a result of this attack). Two half squads count as one squad, and SMCs don't count (SMCs can't help spawn new SMCs).
That way, you should think twice before firing at big stacks of shaken units (with three shaken units they get a hero if the second die is 3 or higher). If you keep firing at them, you may end up pushing that one guy over the edge. Heroes are fun, but they are most fun when they show up in desperate situations.