In case I survive...(Warblade build help)

[Laserlight]

At the other end of the ship, our barbarian/warblade charger is surrounded by shreds of raiders. At my end of the ship, my halfling swordsman is surrounded by raiders who are all, sadly, unshredded. If I survive this fight I'll probably hit level 6, and I'm wondering what to do with it. And how to be able to shred raiders myself, next time.

The character thus far:
Halfling
Rogue 1 / Swashbuckler 3 / Bard 1 (Bardic Sage)
STR 12 DEX 18 CON 14 INT 14 WIS 8 CHA 14

Usual attack +7 if TWF, AC20

Feats:
Two weapon fighting: rapier and dagger
Combat Reflexes
Deft opportunist
Weapon finesse
Daredevil acrobat

Notable Skills:
Balance 4 (Iron Heart)
Concentration 2 (Diamond Mind)
Diplomacy 9 (White Raven)
Jump 4 (Tiger Claw)

Other abilities:
Trapfinding
Grace (+1 to reflex save)
Insightful strike (+INT mod to damage)

My plan is to take the next level in Warblade, which gives me an Initiator level 3.5, which means I can take a stance and three second level maneuvers.
If my next two levels after that are Bard/Warblade, I'll be at Initiator 5 and can take a third level maneuver--that'll presumably be either White Raven Tactics or Iron Heart Surge, and I'll need one prereq for either.

I can't count on always having buddies around and I want to be able to fight solo when needed. Presumably TC because of TWF, but I would also be happy with IH or DM. A lot of time we're on a ship, so Stone Dragon is right out.

For feats--I'll want Song of the White Raven eventually, but as far as I can tell, right now it does almost nothing for me.

So, what stance, maneuvers, and feat should I take?

[ngilop]

the only issue i see here is you are spreading your classes out waaay to thin, id suggest asking your DM if you cna go swashbuckler/warblade or bard/warblade and getting rid of the other classes.

BUT if you want to keep the whole dashing swordsman kind of style, id recommend swordsage instead

Bard/swordsage is still pretty awesome.

[Laserlight]

the only issue i see here is you are spreading your classes out waaay to thin, id suggest asking your DM if you cna go swashbuckler/warblade or bard/warblade and getting rid of the other classes.

BUT if you want to keep the whole dashing swordsman kind of style, id recommend swordsage instead

Bard/swordsage is still pretty awesome.

If I were starting from scratch, yes, I'd probably go pure BardBlade; but I'm not starting from scratch, and swordsage is not on the list of options available to me.

My next level has to be either warblade, bard, or possibly rogue, nothing else. My rogue-ness is the "feat instead of sneak attack" version, so I'd get two feats out of it, but I'm thinking warblade is still better.

[Darrin]

So, what stance, maneuvers, and feat should I take?

For TWF? Punishing Stance.

Maneuvers... I was going to say Mountain Hammer, but then you mentioned the "on a ship" thing. Since the term "ground" is not really explicitly defined in the book, I guess I'd ask the DM if he feels inclined to treat "ground" as any solid surface. If you do find yourself getting boned on DR... Foehammer (via Martial Study) is similar to Mountain Hammer and doesn't have the "must be in contact with the ground" stipulation, but it also doesn't have the "ignores hardness" part either.

Tiger Claw is isn't actually as useful to TWF as many people imagine. Most of the strikes tend to be Jump check + single attack with a damage bonus and/or some other effect, which doesn't work well with TWF. Ideally, you want to cherry-pick Tiger Claw for its boosts, and maybe pick up Pouncing Charge along the way. You probably do want Sudden Leap, however, but it has a prereq, which means if you want it, you're sort of locked into taking Wolf Fang Strike + Sudden Leap until Warblade 4, where you can trade out Wolf Fang Strike for something else. But taking two first-level maneuvers kind of defeats the purpose of coming in late with a higher Initiator Level.

To get the most out of TWF, you'll want to focus on boosts and counters. Unfortunately, the only 2nd level boost/counter that stands out is Wall of Blades. Ref saves are not an area of concern, so Action Before Thought would probably be a bit of a waste. Moment of Perfect Mind is generally a strong pick for melee-based meatbags with weak Will saves, but again that's only a 1st level maneuver.

The only 2nd level strike that stands out (other than Mountain Hammer) is Emerald Razor. However, that's another waste of TWF. Still, could come in handy against a high-AC opponent.

My recommendation:
Punishing Stance
Wolf Fang Strike
Sudden Leap
Wall of Blades

Feats:
Travel Devotion (if available)
Martial Study: Cloak of Deception
Song of the Heart
Dragontouched/Dragonfire Inspiration

[Laserlight]

But taking two first-level maneuvers kind of defeats the purpose of coming in late with a higher Initiator Level.
<snip>
Feats:
Martial Study: Cloak of Deception
Song of the Heart
Dragontouched/Dragonfire Inspiration

Thanks much!
The point of delaying my second WB level is to be able to take WRT or IHS -- it's looking like IHS at this point. I'd like second level maneuvers but if first level are more effective, I can live with that.

DFI is not available.
Cloak of Deception would be extremely helpful right about now...