In my current RTR game, I've got my faction leader beasting on the Gauls, as the previous incumbent did before him. My generals always fight in the front line, usually taking on the enemy general - heavy duty spearmen as a bodyguard are pretty useful.

However, since I don't ever adopt/allow people to marry in, I'm running fairly thin of family members - I've had about a third of them die on the field of battle - no-one dies peacefully in my campaign. Except my first faction leader, who died after surviving a battlein which his unit went down to just his standard-bearer, himself and a couple of men.