For those unfamiliar with an escalation league, it basically takes place over a period of X weeks and every week or two the points value of the games goes up. This particular league will be done over 2 week intervals. The first 2 weeks will be 600 point games (with a 50 point bonus if your army is painted!), the next 2 weeks will be 1200 point games (with a 100 point painting bonus) and the last 2 weeks will be 1800 points (with a 150 point painting bonus). It will give me a reason to finish painting my unpainted Deathwing squads.
Now on to the first army list I plan on using!
For the first 2 weeks my army is going to be super tiny. Being a Deathwing force though it should hold up well. At 600 points there shouldn't be too much that can overwhelm them.
HQ - Belial - 190
Troop 1 - 5-man Deathwing Squad - Chainfist, Assault Cannon, 1 pair of Lightning Claws, 1 Thunder Hammer & Storm Shield - 250
Troop 2 - 5-man Tactical Squad - Plasma Cannon - 85
Razorback - Twin-linked lascannon - 75
Ravenwing Landspeeder - Heavy Bolter - 50
650 points (I plan on having the painted bonus as for this particular army I only have to paint the 5 tactical marines)
This gives me an immobile anvil (the tactical squad with razorback) and a hammer (the Deathwing squad) plus a fast moving unit to buzz around. For 600 points I think there is enough firepower for tanks (lascannon + assault cannon), high armor (plasma cannon, lascannon and powerfists) and even hordes (storm bolters, assault cannon + heavy bolter). The force is also mobile enough to get objectives.
With Belial, the Deathwing squad can deep strike wherever I want without scattering so placing them in an advantageous position is easy. With the assault cannon I can shred apart most tanks aside from AV14 (which shouldn't be all that present at 600 points).
The only thing I was reconsidering was an assault cannon turret instead of the lascannon turret on the Razorback, but if I do that it would require the tank to get close and being such a light vehicle, it might not be a good idea.