Best Gear for Saurus Cowboy

In the new codex, Saurus Lords and Heroes have the following options when mounted on a carnasour or cold one. The question is, which options are best?

Oldblood (Lord Version)

Gets a hand weapon for free.

Can be upgraded with
• A halberd (Strength goes to 6, two-handed)
• Spear (Strength goes to 6 on the charge turn)
• Great Weapon (Strength goes to 7, two-handed, strikes last)
• Light armor (save goes to 2+)
• Shield (save goes to 2+)

Scar-Vet
• Halberd (Strength goes to 5, two-handed)
• Spear (Strength goes to 5 on the charge turn)
• Great Weapon (Strength goes to 6, two handed, strikes last)
• Light armor (save goes to 3+)
• Shield (save goes to 3+)

Important notes:
• Either model mounted on a carnosaur gets the typical cavalry save improvement, which is included in the saves described above.
• Either model mounted on a cold one gets an additional 1-point bonus to their save.
• Light armor and shield can be stacked, bringing both saves to the best possible save of 1+.

Since saves max out at 1+, there's no point in paying to make it any better than that. For example, there's no point in giving an oldblood on a cold one a shield. His save is a 4+, which becomes a 2+ because he's riding on a cold one. Light armor gives him a 1+. In my mind, this means that his best possible weapon is probably a great weapon. He's usually going to strike last, anyway, thanks to his appalling Saurus Initiative score. Assuming he's riding with a unit of Saurus cold one cavalry, you can always put a champion in the unit to take on challenges while the oldblood slaughters enemy troopers.

If the oldblood is on a carnosaur, you probably want to give him a one-handed weapon so you can equip him with both armor and a shield, giving him that magic maximum 1+ save. The best one-handed weapon in this situation is probably a spear, for the Strength 6 on the charge turn. With a carnosaur's speed, you will get off a lot of charges.

Scar-vets, on the other hand, are a little bit less durable... but they're also less points-intensive. My current opinion is that scar vets follow the same logic: shield and spear on a carnosaur, great weapon on a cold one, light armor for both. This means that either will only have a 2+ save, rather than a 1+ save, but that's fairly academic since you will never roll at better than a 2+, and if you really want to, you can spend some extra points to make the shield or armor magical for an additional save point.

All of this, of course, is assuming that you don't go in for any of the various magical weapons. This conversation is still important from a modeling perspective, however.

Anyway. This is my logic. I'm curious to read your opinions.

As far as standard wargear I think you nailed it on the head. A spear is probably best, although a great weapon could work. A 2+ save is still a 2+ save and the Carnosaur is speedy enough to get into combat pretty quickly, especially with Loping Stride. Against low S weapons there is no difference between 2+ and 1+, the difference becomes quickly noticeable once you hit S5 and beyond though. Against the all important cannon... neither save matters... it ignores both. In general... I think 2+ is enough as against S4 and below the 2+ will prove just as survivable as the 1+, especially with the destructive power of the Carnosaur and Slann.

As for other equipment, look into the Charmed Shield to assist with denying the odd cannon shot (or even a bolt-thrower). Additionally the Dragonbane Gem is also useful since flaming cannons are even more prevalent in the game than before. Both items are incredibly cheap. For weapons, outside the realm of mundane weapons, look into the piranha blade as there is something to be said about a model where both the mount and the rider cause d3 multiple wounds (hint, one of the best monster hunters in the game barring Doomwheels). I know your chief opponent are Wood Elves, but once you start playing opponents outside of Wood Elves I'd consider looking into both for an all-comers list.

A buddy of mine sometimes runs an Oldblood solo just to mess with me. Not unkillable, but touch to knock out if he makes it into the flank of my WoC.

I'm pretty sure it's something like
Oldblood
Coldone
Sword of Striking
Glittering scales
Talisman of Preservation
Charmed shield (?)

Something like that. So he gets a 1+4++ with a +1 to hit me and a -1 for me to hit him, which with his WS means 6's for me and 2's for him, pretty brutal.

Honestly, on low I characters, I always give them a Great Weapon. This is because they tend to be ridiculously tough. Ogres, Saurus etc can all take a panelling, Then break out their big club and seriously make their presence felt!