Steamroller Prep: Escalation Tournament

So there's an Escalation Tournament on December 9th at The Battle Standard in Manchester, CT that sounds really interesting.  Unfortunately, I'm on duty that weekend so I will be unable to attend *shakes fist* but in case I can get someone to switch duty weekends with me, I still would like to prepare for it.  What will be interesting about the tournament is that there will be 4 rounds and the points values for each round increase, so you'll play at 15 points the first round, then 25, then 35, and lastly you'll play at 50 points.  Where it gets most challenging, however, is that you must keep building on your previous list.  In other words, the models in the 15 point list must be present in your 25 point list and so on.  The other major challenge is that your 15 point list is warjack/warbeast only (although you can be 3 points down).  That's where things get tricky because it means infantry warcasters will have a tougher time first round, and so the event as a whole will likely favor warjack/warbeast-heavy lists.  So what would I be bringing?  Well I first had to start with looking at viable 15 point lists, since those elements will carry forth into the later rounds.  Here's what I considered:

Warmachine League Escalation

I guess technically the League that I'm in is an Escalation League, but the club isn't calling it that.  Either way, each week is one round and the League will last a total of 6 rounds, with two rounds at each of 3 different point levels: 15, 25, and 35.  We're only allowed 2 warcasters to use throughout the event, so after some thinking I've narrowed my two choices down to Constance Blaze and Jeremiah Kraye.  Today I want to share my plans for escalating both of my lists for each of these warcasters up to the 25 and 35 points levels and what my game plan is.  I've spent far too long with just the theory of playing Cygnar and it's time I test my theory on the actual table!

Warmachine League - End of Week 1

Week 1 of the local Warmachine League has been completed.  While it was originally quite stressful for me because I couldn't get a game in all week, I finally did get some games in on Friday and I can make at least one conclusion: the Harbinger of Menoth is a real witch.  While I'm well aware of her tricks and shenanigans, she's really difficult to deal with at 15 points and my games on Friday were both against her.  While I should go easier on myself because these were my first two games with my Morrowan force, I made some silly mistakes in the first game and I lost the last game on a technicality (the store was closing and we ran out of time).  I want to start today by sharing my experiences in these two games first and then I'll share my list for week two.

Local Warmachine/Hordes League - Week 1

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The LGS that I've been frequenting is just starting a 6 week League starting today and I'm intrigued to see what will come out of it.  It's roughly based on the Journeyman League rules but with some interesting twists that have had me thinking pretty much all day on Saturday about what I should bring to the event.  Unfortunately (at least in my opinion), a greater emphasis is placed on winning games in this league instead of just playing, so it means that I have to make sure that I bring my A-game.  This means, though, that I'm less inclined to try something different because I'll basically be penalized for playing with a list that will result in a couple of losses.  Oh well.  Let me share with you the league rules and run through what I was thinking all day on Saturday, preparing for this League.