Fighter/Sword bard or straight bard?

[Seekergeek]

So I'm wanting to make a crossbow expert archer, with the majority of my skills and magic being pointed toward non-combat application, and sword bard seems to make the best option for what I'd like. Holy weapon at level 10 seems like a no-brainer and, I don't know, counterspell I guess. Anyway, my big question is whether or not taking three levels of fighter into Echo Knight for fun and utility is a reasonable trade off against pure bard. I'll be starting at level 14 as this is a replacement for my current bladesinger who is starting next session off in a very precarious position. The fighting style can be snapped up with the extra ASI of staying bard so it seems like the balancing here is against the utility of the echo and the burst damage provided by action surge. At 14 I would get two more magical secrets and the bard capstone, but I don't have much exerience playing at this high level and don't really know where to look for top choices in magical secrets at that point. Maybe Tenser's? I've planned on sharpshooter and crossbow expert as feats.

[Keltest]

IMO the bard capstone is pretty boring. The biggest thing you would be missing out on are the extra spell slots for the last 3 levels of bard, assuming the campaign goes to 20.

Action surge alone may well be worth that, frankly, even without the echo knight abilities. I think the biggest question here might actually be whether to go fighter 2 or fighter 3. Weighing the magical secret against the Echo Knight abilities at 3. The big thing is this means missing out on the potential for Wish or other cross-class 9th level spells from the magical secret.

[CTurbo]

I'd stay full Swords Bard because at 14 you get free Flourishes forever without having to expend your Inspiration dice.

Find Greater Steed should be an "obvious" Magical Secrets pick IMO.

[Joe the Rat]

Fighter 1 for Second Wind (it happens), and Archery is a pretty solid choice.
Fighter 2 for Action Surge. Yes.
Fighter 3 for Echo Knight (or anything else that strikes your fancy)... weigh that against delaying your magical secrets further.

If your fighting is heavily Flourish driven, then you really ought to hit Bard 5 (for Font of Inspiration), and possibly Bard 6 (Extra Attack for your... I'm assuming 3rd attack with a hand crossbow) before diversifying.