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I am looking foward to creed outflanking a warhound at some point. Probably a total waste of points and first turn but funny.

Titan battles are pretty lame because only one gets to shoot during the game. There should be a special interceptor rule for lords of war that allowed them the option to shoot simultaneously with the enemy Lord of War, guaranteeing that both Titans get to fire some shots in anger. The guy whose turn it is still has an advantage of the rest of the army being able to support, but atleast the game isn't over based on who goes first.

Well that is what void shield relays are for...

I think Slow and Purposeful might be an error. I'm pretty sure a unit can't be SnP AND Relentless. What would be the point of that?

You know, i just wanted to point out that trazyn (or whichever guy has mind in the machine special rule) is really useful in escalation. Being able to take over enemy super heavies is AMAZING!! that's like a graruteed puppet master with no risk of perils I think it would be cool to make a list with him in it.

 ninjafiredragon wrote:
You know, i just wanted to point out that trazyn (or whichever guy has mind in the machine special rule) is really useful in escalation. Being able to take over enemy super heavies is AMAZING!! that's like a graruteed puppet master with no risk of perils I think it would be cool to make a list with him in it.

You are thinking of anrakyr and he needs to roll a 3+ to take over a weapon so its best to keep a chronotek around him to ensure it goes off

 ninjafiredragon wrote:
You know, i just wanted to point out that trazyn (or whichever guy has mind in the machine special rule) is really useful in escalation. Being able to take over enemy super heavies is AMAZING!! that's like a graruteed puppet master with no risk of perils I think it would be cool to make a list with him in it.

i think jy2 already went into the reasons why he doesn't make lists with "gimmicks" in them (if you're playing competitive, you want reliability), but if you're just playing for fun, yeah, Anrakyr (the guy with MitM) would be great: stick him with someone with a Veil (either Despair-tek or Obyron) and a bunch of Storm-teks (plus one Chrono-tek, as you want to make certain you pass that test) turn one drop him near a Titan, take over its guns, shoots opponents guys with their own D weapon, then unload on Titan with all the Haywire sticks. If it doesn't work, you're screwed, but if it does, the game is practically yours.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Ninja'd while replying to someone whose name starts with ninja... the irony.

Hey just a quick question. When are you going to cap off the voting? 150 voters? 200?

Indeed, nice tactica. The superheavy C'tan can be really nasty. Nevertheless, I'd still prefer a DLord and a bunch of Wraiths.

So far, Tau and IG in the lead with 22 votes each.

It's interesting to see how low the Grey Knights are in the voting, as they seemed to be the most popular army back in 5th.

 ansacs wrote:
So my escalation design philosophy has pretty much been set now; mobility, MSU, AA, D weapons, Void Shields in decreasing priority. I am thinking that the formula for all these lists will be pretty similar as you basically need to pick your SH, add AA preferably in flyer form, and then find the most mobile MSU troop choice you can in the codex and fill out your points. Then if you have enough scoring you can play with improving your alpha strike resistance.?

Yeah, that's a good formula for building a TAC army in Escalation. Pick your Super-heavy, which is the deathstar of the army, and then surround it with complementing support units as well as troops. MSU is there to lessen the impact of enemy Destroyer weaponry, AA is to offset the weaknesses of many of these titans and Void Shields for some anti-D D-fense. Mobility, especially the mobility of your scoring units, is always important, both in Escalation and regular 40K. If you can satisfy these criterias, then you can create an Escalation army that can remain competitive with the other Escalation armies out there.

Have you decided yet whether you will go MSU paladins or MSU henchmen in your GK tactica? I am thinking either could work though I think I like the idea of stormravens with some henchmen better.

The IG tactica almost seems like it will need a FW version and a non FW version. Without FW though IG, Tau, and Orks are all pretty badly outclassed in the LoW department.

I can also see several drastically different builds for the IG+warhound with either lots of artillery and shields or a vendetta centric list. There is also some serious pluses for a vulture. Of course I am kind of thinking that a coteaz is going to be nearly ubiquitous in IoM escalation lists.

The worst part of escalation is Jy2 will no longer get to crab crawl his wraiths across the table...perhaps you can move your C'Tan with his back toward the opponent?

For GK's, personally, I'd go Henchmen in games of Escalation. This would be probably what I would run at 1750:

Warhound Titan
Coteaz

3x Henchmen - Razorback w/Psybolt
3x Henchmen - Razorback w/Psybolt
3x Henchmen - Razorback w/Psybolt
3x Henchmen - Razorback w/Psybolt
3x Henchmen - 3x Meltabombs

Stormraven - TL-AC, TL-MM, Hurricane Bolters, Psybolt Ammo

Psyfleman Dread
Psyfleman Dread

Void Shield Generator - 3x Shields


For the Imperials, the Warhound gives you the biggest bang for the buck at 2K and under. So for GK's, Space Marines, IG, etc., you should see those armies running Warhound Titans for players playing Escalation seriously.

IG has a lot of different builds, but if Forgeworld is allowed, then you should definitely consider the Sabre platforms. Otherwise, I like an IG infantry-based list with some vendettas to give the troops some mobility.

As for my crab-crawling wraiths (I like to think of them more as shrimps), you may still see them in Escalation, but mainly at the higher points games (i.e. probably at 2.5K Escalation games).

 skoffs wrote:
All of the questions I was going to ask have already been addressed in the comments, so instead I will just say
Bravo, sir! Excellent as always.

Too bad there's no way to deep strike a Super C'tan. Nothing like finding Dr. Manhattan in your back field on turn two, ready to double D template your entire army.
(perhaps for noncompetitive lists one could experiment with Monoliths and/or Obyron... wait, can Obyron even join a GC and Ghostwalk? If so, turn one: half opponents army gone.)

 ansacs wrote:
The worst part of escalation is Jy2 will no longer get to crab crawl his wraiths across the table...perhaps you can move your C'Tan with his back toward the opponent?

I must have missed the thread where that was a thing... though, am intrigued.
Care to expand on what you mean by "crab crawling his Wraiths"?

I believe he is referring to some of my battle reports where I move my wraiths but with their backs turned towards the enemy. They kind of like shrimps/crabs/crustaceans/whatever when you do this.

 ansacs wrote:
It is a fairly common sight for Jy2's wraiths to walk backwards toward the enemy. I consider It a feature of Jy2's batreps

IC cannot join units that always consist of a single model; ie Trans C'Tan.

I am looking foward to creed outflanking a warhound at some point. Probably a total waste of points and first turn but funny.

Can Creed actually do that? I have not considered that, but at 2K or less, I probably won't be able to fit Creed into my IG Escalation lists.

 Therion wrote:

I am looking foward to creed outflanking a warhound at some point. Probably a total waste of points and first turn but funny.

Titan battles are pretty lame because only one gets to shoot during the game. There should be a special interceptor rule for lords of war that allowed them the option to shoot simultaneously with the enemy Lord of War, guaranteeing that both Titans get to fire some shots in anger. The guy whose turn it is still has an advantage of the rest of the army being able to support, but atleast the game isn't over based on who goes first.

That'll just favor the Revenant/Warhound builds more. You can shoot at my Revenant, but you'll get destroyed while you try to do so.

 ninjafiredragon wrote:
You know, i just wanted to point out that trazyn (or whichever guy has mind in the machine special rule) is really useful in escalation. Being able to take over enemy super heavies is AMAZING!! that's like a graruteed puppet master with no risk of perils I think it would be cool to make a list with him in it.

By all means, swap out your necron HQ and dump some models to put Anrakyr into the list if you want. While my lists are usually pretty lean and optimized, it's ok to change it up to add some "flavor" to your lists.

 A GumyBear wrote:

 ninjafiredragon wrote:
You know, i just wanted to point out that trazyn (or whichever guy has mind in the machine special rule) is really useful in escalation. Being able to take over enemy super heavies is AMAZING!! that's like a graruteed puppet master with no risk of perils I think it would be cool to make a list with him in it.

You are thinking of anrakyr and he needs to roll a 3+ to take over a weapon so its best to keep a chronotek around him to ensure it goes off

Yeah, he gets pretty expensive, especially if you want to make him more reliable.

 skoffs wrote:

 ninjafiredragon wrote:
You know, i just wanted to point out that trazyn (or whichever guy has mind in the machine special rule) is really useful in escalation. Being able to take over enemy super heavies is AMAZING!! that's like a graruteed puppet master with no risk of perils I think it would be cool to make a list with him in it.

i think jy2 already went into the reasons why he doesn't make lists with "gimmicks" in them (if you're playing competitive, you want reliability), but if you're just playing for fun, yeah, Anrakyr (the guy with MitM) would be great: stick him with someone with a Veil (either Despair-tek or Obyron) and a bunch of Storm-teks (plus one Chrono-tek, as you want to make certain you pass that test) turn one drop him near a Titan, take over its guns, shoots opponents guys with their own D weapon, then unload on Titan with all the Haywire sticks. If it doesn't work, you're screwed, but if it does, the game is practically yours.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Ninja'd while replying to someone whose name starts with ninja... the irony.

Anrakyr is a gamble. He gets out of his transport, you have a chance to control a titan and then you lose your Warlord. And for this gamble to possibly pay off, you need to sacrifice some of your units at the list-building stage for something that may or may not work.

For me personally, I want something a little more reliable in a TAC list. Zahndrehk gives you a USR without fail. Trazyn is an extra scoring unit. The Overlord is cheap and actually a pretty good disruptor unit in the enemy backfield and is a threat to elite combat units as well with MSS. But Anrakyr, his power may go off or it may not, but the cost for doing so is that you will most likely lose your Warlord.

 Commander_Farsight wrote:
Hey just a quick question. When are you going to cap off the voting? 150 voters? 200?

There is no cap. Basically, when I start working on my next tactica probably early sometime next week, I'm going to look at where the poll is at and go from there.

 wuestenfux wrote:
Indeed, nice tactica. The superheavy C'tan can be really nasty. Nevertheless, I'd still prefer a DLord and a bunch of Wraiths.

Wraiths can take on super-heavies but they won't be able to take on D-weapons. Of course, you don't have to play Escalation with them. Escalation isn't for everyone, especially for those who don't want to change their lists at all. Those people are better off just playing regular 40K unless they actually enjoy getting slaughtered by some D-baggery.

wuestenfux wrote: Indeed, nice tactica. The superheavy C'tan can be really nasty. Nevertheless, I'd still prefer a DLord and a bunch of Wraiths.


Wraiths can take on super-heavies but they won't be able to take on D-weapons. Of course, you don't have to play Escalation with them. Escalation isn't for everyone, especially for those who don't want to change their lists at all. Those people are better off just playing regular 40K unless they actually enjoy getting slaughtered by some D-baggery.

How do you judge the 40k tournament scene in the States? Will Escalation become standard in the GT scene?

My prediction is that Escalation/Stronghold won't be allowed, at least not at the major GT's and not initially.

Maybe 6-months from now, certain tournaments may perhaps allow Escalation/Stronghold in their tournaments, but in a separate event much like Adepticon's Championships and Gladiatior events. In these types of tournaments, there will be a main tournament (i.e. the Championships) which is just regular 40K without Escalation/Stronghold. Then there will be a smaller, no-holds-barred side tournament (i.e. the Gladiator) that will allow Escalation/Stronghold.

I actually like this format and will join both if the tournament allows.

 jy2 wrote:

For GK's, personally, I'd go Henchmen in games of Escalation. This would be probably what I would run at 1750:

Warhound Titan
Coteaz

3x Henchmen - Razorback w/Psybolt
3x Henchmen - Razorback w/Psybolt
3x Henchmen - Razorback w/Psybolt
3x Henchmen - Razorback w/Psybolt
3x Henchmen - 3x Meltabombs

Stormraven - TL-AC, TL-MM, Hurricane Bolters, Psybolt Ammo

Psyfleman Dread
Psyfleman Dread

Void Shield Generator - 3x Shields

Have you considered the thunderhawk? The GK actually (somewhat amusingly) don't have to take the GK version (which is more expensive), so you could take the normal version.
While you lose out on turn 1 D-weapons, and you get far less firepower, it could be argued that the thunderhawk is more survivable. Personally I, too, would take the warhound, but I do think think the Hawk is worth considering, especially in a raven spam list.

The thunderhawk actually isn't bad. However, there are a few reasons why I would choose the Warhound over the Thunderhawk:

1. Better firepower. 4 D's vs 1 D.

2. A stronger ground presence. With the Thunderhawk and its occupants in reserves, it would actually be easier to table a GK army, especially if the TH doesn't come in on Turn 2.

3. The TH still isn't very good against other flyers. Though its got 2 lascannons + 6 seeker missiles, it still can't fire its D at air targets.

4. You can predict its flight paths and respond according. For example, you can move into its 18" minimum flyzone (or behind it), causing it to either overshoot you or go into hover mode.

5. The warhound is actually cheaper than a TH w/D-gun! That means you can build a slightly better complementing army around it than you can with the TH.

 jy2 wrote:
The thunderhawk actually isn't bad. However, there are a few reasons why I would choose the Warhound over the Thunderhawk:

1. Better firepower. 4 D's vs 1 D.

2. A stronger ground presence. With the Thunderhawk and its occupants in reserves, it would actually be easier to table a GK army, especially if the TH doesn't come in on Turn 2.

3. The TH still isn't very good against other flyers. Though its got 2 lascannons + 6 seeker missiles, it still can't fire its D at air targets.

4. You can predict its flight paths and respond according. For example, you can move into its 18" minimum flyzone (or behind it), causing it to either overshoot you or go into hover mode.

5. The warhound is actually cheaper than a TH w/D-gun! That means you can build a slightly better complementing army around it than you can with the TH.

Agree with most of those points I think the thunderhawk probably works best in clan raukaan, where you can put 2 Masters of the Forge, 6 Techmarines and 3 servitors in, and watch it auto-repair 8HP a turn... Very expensive though...
Anyway, in response to your points:
1) Agree.
2) Agree.
3) Agree, although it's better than the warhound. Do Super-heavy flyers suffer from having to snap fire at ground targets if they skyfire?
4) Yeah that is a problem, although by turn 3 hovering doesn't really matter, especially if you've taken the clan raukaan version.
5) Why, so it is! For some reason I had it in my head at 575, not 775... I think I need more sleep...

So far, the voting is tied between Tau and IG at 23 votes each, with Space Marines coming in 3rd at 21.

Hmmm....so which to write if there is a tie.

Tactical_Genius wrote:
Agree with most of those points I think the thunderhawk probably works best in clan raukaan, where you can put 2 Masters of the Forge, 6 Techmarines and 3 servitors in, and watch it auto-repair 8HP a turn... Very expensive though...

I would never do this in any list less than 2.5K. This is a gimmick build. All it really does is to make me ignore the TH even more. It also makes it much easier for me to kill the rest of the army.

Though in large games, go for it. It should be amusing.

Anyway, in response to your points:
1) Agree.
2) Agree.
3) Agree, although it's better than the warhound. Do Super-heavy flyers suffer from having to snap fire at ground targets if they skyfire?
4) Yeah that is a problem, although by turn 3 hovering doesn't really matter, especially if you've taken the clan raukaan version.
5) Why, so it is! For some reason I had it in my head at 575, not 775... I think I need more sleep...

3. When you opt to shoot in skyfire mode, it is for all the weapons. Super-heavy rules only removes the restriction to target just 1 unit or to fire just 1 gun at full BS. Thus, fire at other flyers and you won't be able to fire your D-cannon.

4. It will matter against a 4-D titan like the Warhound or Revenant. They can easily take out 9HP in just one turn of shooting. And that is assuming the TH even comes in on Turn 2!

the thunder hawk has some potential. It can take troops right? being a flier, it'll be able to hold its troops till the opponents titan is destroyed then when deploying said cargo near objectives

The flyer titan would be awesome if you could take a skyshield landing pad and a void shield generator relay. So in 2500+ pts games you could have a pretty nasty combination (though there is still the problem of over jumping the flight path). Not to mention at 2500+ pts you could see a reaver titan and the other titan armies are becoming well rounded.

 Commander_Nightflier wrote:
the thunder hawk has some potential. It can take troops right? being a flier, it'll be able to hold its troops till the opponents titan is destroyed then when deploying said cargo near objectives

Yeah, the Thunderhawk isn't bad. It's got some advantages over the Warhound:

1. Can carry troops inside.

2. Invulnerable to D-weapons from the majority of the super-heavies out there.

3. Because it is an Assault Vehicle, the troops inside can actually come out and assault. That is a great way to tie up other titans.

4. It's still got better AA than a ground titan, though it would have to sacrifice its own D-shot in order to go after enemy flyers.

5. Better mobility has its advantages. For instance, the TH can quickly get within enemy Void Shield range to negate its protection.

 ansacs wrote:
The flyer titan would be awesome if you could take a skyshield landing pad and a void shield generator relay. So in 2500+ pts games you could have a pretty nasty combination (though there is still the problem of over jumping the flight path). Not to mention at 2500+ pts you could see a reaver titan and the other titan armies are becoming well rounded.

You could take both fortifications if you were playing double-FOC's, particularly if you were playing 2500+ games.

Honestly, I probably won't use the Reaver until we get to 3K games. My general rule-of-thumb is that you don't want any deathstar unit, including titans, to be more than 50% of your army costs. The more it goes over by, the more unbalanced yoru army becomes.

 jy2 wrote:
My general rule-of-thumb is that you don't want any deathstar unit, including titans, to be more than 50% of your army costs. The more it goes over by, the more unbalanced yoru army becomes.

I've got to say, I like this rule

Tactical_Genius wrote:

 jy2 wrote:
My general rule-of-thumb is that you don't want any deathstar unit, including titans, to be more than 50% of your army costs. The more it goes over by, the more unbalanced yoru army becomes.

I've got to say, I like this rule

Agreed. This makes it hard to play some very expensive superheavies.

Ok, I've decided which army to do a tactica on next.


Oh, and a Merry Christmas to all. Happy holidays!

 jy2 wrote:

Ok, I've decided which army to do a tactica on next.


Oh, and a Merry Christmas to all. Happy holidays!

And a happy new year
Which army, out of interest?
Guard? (At least, that's what the poll is saying)
If so, good They're my main army

 skoffs wrote:
All of the questions I was going to ask have already been addressed in the comments, so instead I will just say
Bravo, sir! Excellent as always.

Too bad there's no way to deep strike a Super C'tan. Nothing like finding Dr. Manhattan in your back field on turn two, ready to double D template your entire army.
(perhaps for noncompetitive lists one could experiment with Monoliths and/or Obyron... wait, can Obyron even join a GC and Ghostwalk? If so, turn one: half opponents army gone.)

 ansacs wrote:
The worst part of escalation is Jy2 will no longer get to crab crawl his wraiths across the table...perhaps you can move your C'Tan with his back toward the opponent?

I must have missed the thread where that was a thing... though, am intrigued.
Care to expand on what you mean by "crab crawling his Wraiths"?

you need the monolith on turn 2 so another 75 points for defenseline + commlink? Obyron can't join a gargantuan creature. The options are really limited.

However if he moves 18 with slide and another 18 with slide in turn 2 he will be where he needs to be.

 jy2 wrote:

Ok, I've decided which army to do a tactica on next.


Oh, and a Merry Christmas to all. Happy holidays!

Yeah, Merry Christmas.
I'd like to see Orks fielding a Stompa or the Bigmek variant.

Tactical_Genius wrote:

 jy2 wrote:

Ok, I've decided which army to do a tactica on next.


Oh, and a Merry Christmas to all. Happy holidays!

And a happy new year
Which army, out of interest?
Guard? (At least, that's what the poll is saying)
If so, good They're my main army

Well, I'll give you all a hint.

I've already done 2 Xenos so now it's time for an Imperial army. It's going to be between the 2 top Imperial armies.




Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Valek wrote:

 skoffs wrote:
All of the questions I was going to ask have already been addressed in the comments, so instead I will just say
Bravo, sir! Excellent as always.

Too bad there's no way to deep strike a Super C'tan. Nothing like finding Dr. Manhattan in your back field on turn two, ready to double D template your entire army.
(perhaps for noncompetitive lists one could experiment with Monoliths and/or Obyron... wait, can Obyron even join a GC and Ghostwalk? If so, turn one: half opponents army gone.)

 ansacs wrote:
The worst part of escalation is Jy2 will no longer get to crab crawl his wraiths across the table...perhaps you can move your C'Tan with his back toward the opponent?

I must have missed the thread where that was a thing... though, am intrigued.
Care to expand on what you mean by "crab crawling his Wraiths"?

you need the monolith on turn 2 so another 75 points for defenseline + commlink? Obyron can't join a gargantuan creature. The options are really limited.

However if he moves 18 with slide and another 18 with slide in turn 2 he will be where he needs to be.

Yeah, I'm afraid there's no shortcuts for the C'tan. That guy can do enough damage already as is. No need to make him totally broken.

 wuestenfux wrote:

 jy2 wrote:

Ok, I've decided which army to do a tactica on next.


Oh, and a Merry Christmas to all. Happy holidays!

Yeah, Merry Christmas.
I'd like to see Orks fielding a Stompa or the Bigmek variant.

Orks would be a fun one to write. Unfortunately, they've got some competition in front of them on the polls. They may be a few armies down the line.

So its Marines or IG

:( no Tau yet

First, thanks JY2 for a most excellent tactica! And by the way I did vote for GK...

Second, not to get us back on track or anything...but...

I wasn't going to bother with the escalation/stronghold ebooks because I thought they would never be allowed anywhere I normally play but from a lot of the rumors I'm hearing that may change so I went and bought the two ebooks. The one thing I liked was the additional rules for a lot of the new (and old for that matter) terrain pieces GW put out. That's nice to see.

My question relates to the VSG. In the ebook it says it's an impassable building with battlements. Further back in the book it says that in order to control/occupy a building you have to get to the battlements (for impassable buildings). It also says the battlements are the roof of the building. Therefore, If you ever hope to control the VSG it better not be more than 3 inches tall since you can't go inside and climb levels you need to do a difficult terrain test and unless you wanna spend several turns trying to hoist a unit up there you better keep it at an average roll, right? Granted the C'Tan will have no problem controlling it and I guess with your proposed list it's up to him. But looking at the rules for the VSG it doesn't specify that anyone has to occupy it to flip the switch or restore the shields. So is it self supporting? I wanted to build a necron looking model VSG but I'd hate to build something and have it not considered acceptable or workable.

 Commander_Farsight wrote:
C'mon people! Vote for Tau!

Tau Tactica: Use the AX-1-0. In games over 2K points, use a Manta. If you can't afford one, use another table as a proxy.

 necron99 wrote:
First, thanks JY2 for a most excellent tactica!

I wasn't going to bother with the escalation/stronghold ebooks because I thought they would never be allowed anywhere I normally play but from a lot of the rumors I'm hearing that may change so I went and bought the two ebooks. The one thing I liked was the additional rules for a lot of the new (and old for that matter) terrain pieces GW put out. That's nice to see.

Agreed, thanks Jim.

I have not yet picked up either book. I am newer to 40k, but what are the tournaments looking like? Is there a possibility that Escalation/Stronghold Assault will become legal? Personally, I think that the Escalation games are purely just fun. What I mean is that it should just stay as an option that could be incorporated now in regular 40k matches. I don't think that it should become the "new way the game is played". If the rules would be allowed in tournaments I think that the D should just go away. What do you guys think about how the game will morph some now that these additions have entered the game? What changes do you think are in store for the game?

 Commander_Farsight wrote:
So its Marines or IG

:( no Tau yet

Yeah, it's going to be one of those 2 Imperial armies for my next tactica.

 necron99 wrote:
First, thanks JY2 for a most excellent tactica! And by the way I did vote for GK...

Second, not to get us back on track or anything...but...

I wasn't going to bother with the escalation/stronghold ebooks because I thought they would never be allowed anywhere I normally play but from a lot of the rumors I'm hearing that may change so I went and bought the two ebooks. The one thing I liked was the additional rules for a lot of the new (and old for that matter) terrain pieces GW put out. That's nice to see.

My question relates to the VSG. In the ebook it says it's an impassable building with battlements. Further back in the book it says that in order to control/occupy a building you have to get to the battlements (for impassable buildings). It also says the battlements are the roof of the building. Therefore, If you ever hope to control the VSG it better not be more than 3 inches tall since you can't go inside and climb levels you need to do a difficult terrain test and unless you wanna spend several turns trying to hoist a unit up there you better keep it at an average roll, right? Granted the C'Tan will have no problem controlling it and I guess with your proposed list it's up to him. But looking at the rules for the VSG it doesn't specify that anyone has to occupy it to flip the switch or restore the shields. So is it self supporting? I wanted to build a necron looking model VSG but I'd hate to build something and have it not considered acceptable or workable.

This is my interpretation. It doesn't say anything about whether you can occupy buildings or not, so you have to refer back to the main rulebook with regards to builds. In the main rulebook, buildings are like vehicles and are occupiable. Thus, unless it says you cannot occupy the building, the default rule is that you can. Just make sure you model the building with a door. So basically, you can control it by embarking into the building (as long as it is empty) or by moving onto the battlements of an unoccupied building (you can't take control of it if there are enemies embarked within the building).

As for the "impassable" part, all buildings, like vehicles, are impassable. You either go in it or you go around it. You just can't go through it unless you have some special rule allowing you to (i.e. the C'tan's Transliminal Stride).

 McNinja wrote:

 Commander_Farsight wrote:
C'mon people! Vote for Tau!

Tau Tactica: Use the AX-1-0. In games over 2K points, use a Manta. If you can't afford one, use another table as a proxy.

Tau is going to be a tough one. So far, at 2K or less, the AX-1-0 is probably their best super-heavy but even it isn't that great.

 Commander_Farsight wrote:

 necron99 wrote:
First, thanks JY2 for a most excellent tactica!

I wasn't going to bother with the escalation/stronghold ebooks because I thought they would never be allowed anywhere I normally play but from a lot of the rumors I'm hearing that may change so I went and bought the two ebooks. The one thing I liked was the additional rules for a lot of the new (and old for that matter) terrain pieces GW put out. That's nice to see.

Agreed, thanks Jim.

I have not yet picked up either book. I am newer to 40k, but what are the tournaments looking like? Is there a possibility that Escalation/Stronghold Assault will become legal? Personally, I think that the Escalation games are purely just fun. What I mean is that it should just stay as an option that could be incorporated now in regular 40k matches. I don't think that it should become the "new way the game is played". If the rules would be allowed in tournaments I think that the D should just go away. What do you guys think about how the game will morph some now that these additions have entered the game? What changes do you think are in store for the game?

I don't believe Escalation will be allowed in most tournaments, at least not initially and probably not for a while. Just make sure to check with the tournament organizer (TO) beforehand. I think most tournaments will announce it if they will be allowing Escalation/Stronghold in their tournaments.

In casual play, it's mainly going to be a "ask-for-permission" type of game. If you pull out a titan in a game against me, I have the right to say, "no thank you. I'd rather not play with titans." So always ask if your opponent is ok with your running a titan. Better yet, ask if he minds playing a game of Escalation in the first place.