When I speak with people crafting their own rule-sets, I encourage them to survey a wide variety of game systems to find what works the best (from their perspective) and to then build a kind of "Bricolage" of these ideas first. Seems like you've done this on some level but I would agree with an...
Cheap minis is ALWAYS a welcome idea. I always scan the cheap toy sections looking for things I can mount on little bases and use on the battlemat. These figures look well crafted - best of luck!