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So, my local hobby shop is running an Escalation League. For those unfamiliar with an Escalation League it's where you have small tournaments at intervals with increasing numbers of points. There are also restrictions on what units you can choose to bring in your army. It's mostly done to encourage new people to get into the game. This is a good thing as our area is sorely lacking.

I'm still new to actually playing 40k so I'd like some advice on my army for the next round.

Rules are:
-1,000 pts
-HQ, Elites and Troops only
-HQ and Elites can't exceed 250 pts

HQ
-Captain (153 pts)
--Artificer Armor, Digital Weapons, Power Fist, Storm Bolter

Elite
-Techmarine (90 pts)
--Boltgun, Power Axe, Servo Harness

Troops
-Tactical Squad #1 (245 pts)
--Flamer, Heavy Bolter
--Sergeant with Melta Bombs, Plasma Pistol, and Power Axe
--Rhino with Dozer Blade

-Tactical Squad #2 (250 pts)
--Plasma Gun, Plasma Cannon
--Sergeant with Melta Bombs, Plasma Pistol, and Power Axe
--Rhino with Dozer Blade

-Tactical Squad #3 (260 pts)
--Meltagun, Multi-Melta
--Sergeant with Melta Bombs, Plasma Pistol, and Power Axe
--Rhino with Dozer Blade

Total: 998 pts

I''ve tried to create a list that can handle just about anything as it's completely random who you end up playing. I took the Techmarine because I love their look and fluff. Advice is welcome. Thanks.

If you change the Captain to a Librarian, drop the Techmarine and Plasma Pistols/Melta Bombs on the Tac squads, you can either get a small squad of Sternguard, a squad of 5 shooty Terminators or maybe a Dreadnought.

Captains are powerful Melee characters, but in this list, he is running alone. Same goes for the Techmarine. Those 2 models cannot go into Rhinos with Tacticals if you don't Combat Squad.

Plasma Pistols on Sergeants cost too much for what they do, and you can kill your Sarge with them.

Librarians bring a lot of utility to any list.

Terminators in 6th ed are difficult to kill, so I'd consider them or a Dread above the Techmarine/Captain.

I've been kicking around the idea of some Terminators. Same thing for the Librarian. I might consider picking some up. As for the Captain rolling alone since we're doing little 1000 pt games as long as it isn't kill points I can Combat Squad one of the Tactical Squads and he can ride around with them. These games are also limited to an hour so more often than not they get called before they end. So far my only loss came against Eldar who refused to die (silly rerolls) and won because they were sitting on more objectives when time ran out.

What about this list for 1000pts

Librarian (150pts)
w/ Epistolary upgrade

(3x)Tac Squad (250pts or so)
w/ Plasmagun, Plasmacannon, Sgt with power sword and meltabombs, drop pod

I don't have my codex on me for exact points, but if the Libby rides with one of the first two pods you should be able to unleash hell on your enemy from up close and personal. The pods allow maximal use of your firepower, and two full squads should thin / wipe out anything in assault range. The 3rd pod will probably drop on the second or third round, bringing reinforcements where needed. If you want all three squads first round give the libby teleport so he can even pull one of your squads accross the board on round one (leave their pod empty) to join the two that pod in. The plasma will be death vs TEQ and up, and should deal with any tanks you see at 1000pts (especially as templates have been buffed, and you will most likely get rear/side armor with pod placement). If you use the librarian to teleport a squad, just be sure to swap the plasma cannon for something you can shoot on the fly, like a heavy bolter (can't snap fire template weps). Plus you have some points left over for a 5 man scout squad to camp an objective, or perhaps a bare bones chaplain? its up to you.

Hope that helps

Vanilla marines have some awesome elites, take some. Techmarine can work but he is not awesome even when he has a place.

Tactical marines are lacklustre.

The rules of this tournament actually punish many an army.

I think I would try to bring a shooty dread to give covering fire. rifledread would be 125 giving 125 to cheaply equip captain else bring a librarian as a better unit.

Power axes mean you swing last in challenges(you may very well die before swinging, or die whilst swinging as you let the I1 enemy hit you.) As such I would bring powerswords. Normally I wouldn't give anything and rely on combat tactics to run away from cc.

Plasma pistols are too expensive. Missile launchers are better than heavy bolters.
You could save points on the dozer blade.

The restrictions are really punishing you. You will have to rely on overwhelming the enemy with scoring units.