Escalation League List and First Impressions

As Caleb Mentioned, there's an escalation league going on at our local store. Here's the list I'm using, and my thoughts on my first few games with it.

 Master Tormentor Morghoul (+7)
*Titan Cannoneer - Candes (9)
*Titan Gladiator - Gladys (8)
*Cyclops Savage - Adam (5)

So it's all battlegroup, and no Paingiver Beast Handlers. There are a couple of things I'm trying out with pMorgs this time around. First, I've replaced my customary Cyclops Brute with a Savage. For one thing, my Savage doesn't get nearly enough playtime. For another, there are a bunch of newer players in the league, and I want them to see how good knockdown assassinations are from the winning side if they pull it off.

 The second thing I'm trying out with Morghoul is the Titan Cannoneer. I've always seen her as a little sub-optimal for pMorghoul due to her low Mat (Morghoul has no accuracy buff). I'm 3/1/1 so far. Predictably, the lack of Paingivers is a big limitation, and I don't miss Enrage nearly as much as I do Condition. Controlling 3 beasts with just 5 Fury is pretty rough on Morghoul, and I'm taking a bunch of Threshold checks in the mid-game, when my beasts start getting stuck in. It especially hurts with the Cannoneer. I'm used to taking a fully boosted shot, using her animus (Diminish), then reducing her Fury to a manageable level with Paingivers, and I can't do that here. If the Cannoneer is going to be operating on all cylinders, my other beasts need to be somewhere that a frenzy won't hurt them too much.

 Despite that limitation, the Cannoneer has worked out surprisingly well. Stacking Abuse and Rush on her gives her a 20" threat range with her cannon, and keeping Admonition on her lets me bait charges pretty safely. The speed Morghoul can put on either the Savage or the Gladiator makes backing her up pretty easy, and means I can charge most targets who wander into Candes' threat range. I'm having a lot of fun with the list so far. More on my planned progression in the next post.