Can't seem to protect my warcaster! (Cryx vs Trollbloods, 25pts, 11/16/10)

Ben and I played another game during our lunch break.

My list:
Iron Lich Asphyxious
- Nightwretch
- Deathjack
- Slayer
Bane Thralls (Leader and 5 Grunts)
Bane Lord Tartarus
Ben had expressed a lack of fear over the Cryx jacks, aside from Arc Nodes.  I wanted to try to run more jacks, and hope to inspire some terror.

Ben's list:
Captain Gunnbjorn
* Troll Impaler
* Troll Impaler
* Dire Troll Bomber
Pyg Burrowers (Leader and 5 Grunts)
Trollkin Sluggers (Leader and 4 Grunts)

This is actually 26 points, but I doubt the single point mattered ;).  Ben has loved Gunnbjorn ever since seeing the concept art for him, so he's been eager to get him on the board.

Our terrain was our normal lunch-time setup.  3 walls, two rough patches, and a column (a salt shaker) in the middle.

I deployed first, and put Asphyxious and the jacks near the middle (the Deathjack was in the middle, just further up due to Advance Deployment), and my Bane models to my right.

Ben deployed Gunnbjorn in the center, an Impaler and his Sluggers off to my left, his Burrowers to my right, and everything else fairly near Gunnbjorn.

I advanced everything forward, but hid Asphyxious and my jacks behind a wall, so they wouldn't take much shooting.  I sent my Nightwretch forward, but it turned out to be out of range for arcing spells.  Ben responded by taking a few shots at my Bane Thralls, but didn't do any damage.  His Burrowers crept on up near the Bane Thralls, however.  Shooting from the Impaler and Gunnbjorn killed the poor bonejack.

I moved my jacks out of cover- the Deathjack ran towards the Sluggers, the Slayer and Asphyxious moved towards the middle, and Asphyxious camped his focus.  My Bane Thralls kept advancing (through a patch of rough terrain), and Bane Lord Tartarus tried to run around a long wall on my right.

One of Ben's Impalers started the turn off by Frenzying, rushing towards his Sluggers, but not quite reaching them.  His Burrowers popped up, and killed 4 of the 6 Bane Thralls.  The Sluggers opened fire on my Death jack, at d3 shots apiece, but ended up doing about 10 damage.  His Bomber attempted to assist, but found himself out of range.  Not quite the effective turn he wanted.

I went aggressive at this point.  The Deathjack charged into the previously frenzied Impaler, killing it, and healing 5 points of damage.  Next turn, I was going to have it start eating through the Sluggers.  Bane Lord Tartarus moved up behind the Burrowers, killing 3 (and replenishing some Bane Thralls) before the Bane Thralls activated, killing the Burrower unit.

Asphyxious charged the Bomber, dealing a ton of damage... then Teleported away.  As we'll see, that was a huge mistake.

Ben was pretty excited at this point, cast Guided Fire, and fired with Gunnbjorn, getting a Critical Devastation, knocking Asphyxious down and back, and dealing a LOT of damage to him.  The Impaler next to him stepped up and finished the job.  Loss for Cryx.

Really, I had this game, but I was a little stupid with Asphyxious.  I keep neglecting to pop his feat when he's in danger, wanting to use the extra focus for his turn offensively.  Had I kept smacking the Bomber (probably killing it) with the last two focus instead of Teleporting, and popped my feat for the 7 focus, I probably would've survived.  At that point, I probably could've won the game, since I had already dealt so much damage to the Troll forces.

I'm really going to have to work to remembering that.  Twice now, I've had this happen.  Going to try harder to make sure there's not a third.