Bulwarks tank better in melee combat. Early game is unlikely to kill you due to physical combat bias; casters will be the ones that get you later. Plan your build appropriately!
Be a Thalore. Their first 3 racials are sweet and turn you into an all-around tank instead of just a melee/physical tank. (Other races may be great too, but my only winner was Thalore so we'll go with that.
)Have Battle Tactics tree up and running by level 20 at the latest (first 2 talents really matter).
Combine Greater Weapon Focus with Shield Offence talents that hit more than once to hit even more times.
Make good tactical use of Block. In particular, learn which damaging talents should be done after a Block with counterstrike active. (Edit: apparently Assault and counterstrike work together well).
Keep shields with different elemental damage resistances; I've heard that you can block elemental attacks if the shield has the right resistances.
You will live in corridors as much as possible like every other character. If you are forced into the open (*cough* orcish prides *cough*) start encounters with Rush, fight using talents until target is dead, then use Step Up to run away to the next target or safety (depending on the situation and your health and cooldown status).
Don't neglect Saves (Thalore Bulwark has them all covered) nor other means of avoiding horrible status effects.
Inscriptions are still great to have. You need at least one escape, at least one status removal, at least one regen/healing.
You may find that your damage output is a bit low late game, especially against groups of enemies: prodigies like Irresistible Sun can help a lot.
You will be great at absorbing damage, so tanking is a viable option on normal difficulty for the entire game. You are a meat grinder which regular melee enemies will politely feed themselves into in corridors, and you are a high speed projectile in the open. Just don't get mobbed, don't get sniped to death, and remember there are occasional random rares and several pre-set bosses that can mess you up if you aren't careful! Check their skills, and have the discipline and humility to run away when they are hurting you.
My only ToME winner to prove that this approach worked for me: http://te4.org/characters/105200/tome/7 ... c980052ba0