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I'm quite new to warhammer (having moved from 40k) and I'm just looking for a few bits of advice/peoples opinions on the good old BSB

I run (when they're finished) a tomb king army and am in the middle of converting a BSB model with tomb guard body, sword, shield and standard pole with a necropolis knight head and the banner from the nercrosphinx kit being the top of the banner.

Anyways before I make anything permanent with the good ol' glue I was wondering about what to equip him with being mindful of the WYSIWYG rule.

From a game point of view is it worth giving him a shield for more armour? Or just leave it at a hand weapon? And is it better to get a magical banner (standard of the undying legion for those of you who know your tomb kings) or magic armour?

Advice welcomed

Personally I think as long as your opponent has a clear idea what the model represents on paper I would say its fine. With my BSBs I like to try and give them as much defensive ability as seems cost effective for him.

If you have a cool idea for a conversion I say go for it. As for tomb kings specifically I don't know their rules very well so can't help on whats an effective BSB build for them.

I converted my ogre BSB myself with one of the gunners from the ironblasters head, handweapon, ironfist and a greenstuffed cloak on a bulls body with the banner fixed on top of that. Standard bearers are great modding opportunities.

WYSIWYG Rule is not as hard as 40K WYSIWYG rule. Just model generally.

It depends on how important it is. When you have a Magic banner, your BSB normal does not survive well and easily killed. If you want your BSB to survice combat, Armor of Desinty (hvy w/ 4+ ward) and shield, Gives you a 4+ armor and 4+ ward.

two things TK specific

Tomb Guard can take the Standard of the undying leigon with out a bsb. I can only otherwise seeing chariots taking the bsb.

A TK BSB isn't as manadatory as it is in other armies., but is pretty cheap nonetheless

Wysiwyg is not really a standing rule in fantasy as much as in 40k. If you make skeletons with shields and hand weapon, run them as that but heroes and standard bearers are changing loadouts so much between games that it is somewhat silly to expect to have a model for every single hero combination you can run.

As was said before, model generally and you will have no complaints from you opponent.

-cgmckenzie

I'll reinforce that WYSIWYG is not a big deal in WHFB.

I always used the following as my BSB when I played DE:

even in tournaments, I just said the baby dragon on his shoulder was his banner. No one really cared. Since DE don't have a BSB model, and I was too lazy to make a conversion, I just used the baby dragon!

So, to address OP, I'd just model him to look cool (while still having a huge banner, bigger than all other banners)!

Pretty much what people here have said.

WYSIWYG doesn't come into Fantasy as much as 40K as (with the exception of an independent character joining the unit) you usually don't have many individuals in a unit who are equipped differently, as opposed to 40k where you can have a unit with a champion upgrade, a meltagun and a flamer.

As long as your opponent knows that that guy is your BSB and you have your army list with his magic items and stuff listed for him to see then it should be fine, no matter what he looks like. It's the rule of cool: If he looks cool enough then people don't care about the WYSIWYG.

Thanks guys!!! As I said im a 40k convert so thats why I raised the question about WYSIWYG. I'm mainly doing this guy for a modeling opportunity and have the parts for both a hand weapon or shield in his alternate arm so I guess the question is which will be cooler

Acardia wrote: A TK BSB isn't as manadatory as it is in other armies., but is pretty cheap nonetheless

As a noob I guess I was worried if my herophant gets nailed early. Also what else kinda annoys me is the fact that if I want my tomb king and bsb in the same unit I have to have my bsb jumping in front of the tomb king every time he is in danger...

Acardia wrote: Tomb Guard can take the Standard of the undying leigon with out a bsb. I can only otherwise seeing chariots taking the bsb.

Ahh good spot, I seemed to have missed this in my many readings!! This may solve my problem becasue he can double as a a regular tomb guard standard when I'm not running a BSB

BSB moddels should at least look somewhat different than the regular rank & file troops. I did always give mine a sligthly different collour scheeme & weapon loadout

Dr. Cheesesteak wrote:I just said the baby dragon on his shoulder was his banner ...

I dig it, big fan of using icons or distinctive kit in lieu of a big ol' flag. Though I have to note that the model is begging to have that weird stick drilled into and made into a banner pole

To the OP, I'd say give him a shield, you're most likely to want the extra defense on your BSB, no matter the race.

- Salvage

Hell, ruleswise my bsb Is somehow juggling a hand weapon, his banner (which is also a lance apparently) and a shield whilst riding a barded horse. So do what looks cool and proxy your ass off my good sir.

Heck, my Mounted Yeomen standard bearer juggles a shield, spear, bow, and standard while riding a draft horse. And he's not even a character! But my Paladin BSB can't take a shield OR a lance, he has to stick with hand weapon and battle standard?

Vulcan wrote:Heck, my Mounted Yeomen standard bearer juggles a shield, spear, bow, and standard while riding a draft horse. And he's not even a character! But my Paladin BSB can't take a shield OR a lance, he has to stick with hand weapon and battle standard?

It's cause your book is from back in the day when GW arbitrarily decided BSB's should only be allowed to do one thing and that's carry the flag and wave it vigorously. I say arbitrary because all the restrictions placed on them were flouted by pretty much every single other model in the army that could pick up a flag, which, as it happened, turned out to be pretty much ANY model in a unit that wasn't a character, champion, or playing an instrument.