The Wardless wonder (BSB without a ward?)

Hey all,

I'm wanting to set up a BSB to stand beside my Tyrant who's toting the Other Tricksters Shard.

Any ideas on how to set him up? I'd prefer not to have him wholely built defensively (tbh would really like +1 strength on him or a Great Weapon) but would like to hear any/ all suggestions.

Put him in the second rank.
Just make sure, there are enough models and other characters in the front rank, so your BSB can be in the second rank behind your tyrant.
He loses one attack, but you don't need a save at all.

Else heavy armour, enchanted shield, sword of might for a 3+ armour save

I run my (almost) wardless BSB with HA, IF, Dragonhelm, Luckstone, Crown of Command.

Gives him Stubborn, 3+ armor with a reroll, 2++ ward vs fire (which isn't hurt much by the OTS), and a 6++ parry - which may as well be ignored with the OTS as it is a type of ward save.

With that loadout he can stand in the front rank, or be charged out to block an opponents Flaming Attack using unit.

One game, I charged him out into a block of Knights of the Realm that had the HKB General in it - who just happened to be next to an Anvil of Vaul.  Stuck him there for the rest of the game while I killed everything else on the table.  Love the 2+ vs fire and stubborn combo.

-Snark

I run mine with identical loadout to Snarkhunter.

The idea is to get Trollguts off for protection if at all possible, which isn't bothered by the OTS.

I must admit I hadn't considered the stubborn setup... Would also get some stubborn into the unit...

The other setup/s I was considering were:

Tricksters helm, Heavy Armour, GW/Ironfist

or

Sword of Might, Dawnstone, Heavy Armour, Enchanted Shield.

Both of which are good against low strength enemies but high strength, and poison (for the former) or armour piercing (the latter) could pose problems.

Trying to use my characters to protect the Irongut unit they'll be sitting in so not overly keen on slipping the BSB to the back lines...

I just buy a 5+ ward and then use the rest for weapons/utility.

Honestly, apart from mental CC Lords not a lot of things really want to risk attacks on a T5 4 wounder... depends on your meta mind (Hi Skulltaker!)

In lists where my BSB has the RuneMaw, I run with him DeathCheater.

I challenge all the time with him and Deathcheater has saved me so many times... My bruiser has mashed a lot of face without ever dying. In fact, I don't ever put wards on any of my characters. My SM can heal himself. Ogre characters just have so many flippin wounds and access to trollguts, it just really isn't ever a problem for me.

That's the important point to be had, in my opinion - access to Trollguts means that packing Ward saves is not critical. You bring those when you're going for double Firebelly or something like that.

Heavy armour, Ironfist,  Dawnstone, Sword of Battle

4 up re-rollable with +1 attack. Combined with reasonably high T and he's pretty reselient against normal RnF troopers and you can usually keep him out of character challenges.

In my opinion, stubborn is much more important than ward saves for the following reasons:
1) many units do the most damage in the first round. Be it impact hits, or strength bonuses from charging (lances and spears), or hatred on the first round. So for those units, weathering the first storm is top priority. Then you can mop them up.
2) trollguts gives us a regen. So getting a fire ward save plugs up that hole.
3) Many times opponents will go for combat res and try to attack core to get ogre units to break, rather than go through the higher WS, higher Toughness characters.

I typically just run my BSB with the SoD, and occasionally a greatweapon.  Unless you're running a horde, there's never a reason to have your BSB in the front rank; all you're giving up is a single attack, and Ogres are so vulnerable to leadership games that your BSB is too vital to risk.