Barding is the name given to the armour worn by a mount. This can take many forms, from heavy cloth draperies, to formed and fitted armour plates. Barding is seen often on the mounts of cavalry, but only rarely upon monsters ridden by characters (it is a challenge to tailor a suit of barding to an unwilling gryphon!).

A model that rides a barded mount improves its armour value by 1. For example, a cavalry model equipped with heavy armour has an armour value of 5+. Should that model's mount be barded, its armour value would be improved by 1 by lowering the target number from 5+ to 4+.