BR: 35pts eHaley vs. Xerxis

I played a game vs. my friend Skorne tonight and it was pretty educational overall.  It was the first time he played against eHaley and it was not a game that he'll forget in the near future.  This BR will be written in  my classic bullet point format and it will highlight the important plays.  Overall, I wasn't really happy with my performance but it has been a long while since I played Haley.

My list:

Points: 35
Major Victoria Haley (*5pts)
* Thorn (8pts)
* Stormclad (10pts)
* Squire (2pts)
Black 13th Gun Mage Strike Team (4pts)
Stormblade Infantry (Leader and 5 Grunts) (5pts)
* Stormblade Infantry Officer & Standard (3pts)
* 3 Stormblade Infantry Storm Gunner (3pts)
Eiryss, Angel of Retribution (3pts)
Rhupert Carvolo, Piper of Ord (2pts)

His list:

Points: 35
Tyrant Xerxis (*5pts)
* Bronzeback Titan (10pts)
* Titan Gladiator (8pts)
Bloodrunners (Leader and 5 Grunts) (5pts)
Cataphract Cetrati (Leader and 5 Grunts) (11pts)
Paingiver Beast Handlers (Leader and 3 Grunts) (2pts)
Agonizer (2pts)
Orin Midwinter, Rogue Inquisitor (2pts)

• Turn 1 was pretty average.  I made him deploy first since I won the roll and he setup across the table for me in standard castle formation.  Xerxis casted Defender's Ward on the Bloodrunners and they went around flanking my B13 on the left.  Everyone moved up with the block of Cetrati in the middle in Shield Wall, the Bronzeback on his left and the Titan on his right.  Everyone else was behind him.
• Turn 1 for me was just moving all my dudes up.  Lynch lit up a Bloodrunner with Fire Beacon and Ryan dropped a Magestorm on him.  I placed Watts in front of Ryan so she wouldn't be charged next turn.  Thorn ran and arced a Time Bomb into to Cetrati and it didn't scatter too well.  eEiryss flanked his army on the right.
• Turn 2 saw his entire army moving up some more.  He upkept Defender's Ward on his Bloodrunners and they charged Watts.  Only one was in reach to hit him and he missed with his attack.  He had a crap ton of Fury on his Agonizer and that was just short of touching Thorn.  With his army up mid-field, I knew next turn was going to be big.
• Turn 2 my turn saw Haley pop her feat, covering his entire army in a Temporal Shift.  She put Temporal Acceleration on the Stormclad and made the Gladiator turn around with TK.  Haley put 3 focus on the Stormclad and 1 focus on Thorn just in case I needed to get somewhere.  At this point, I was noticing the rust in playing eHaley because I had to constantly look at her cards for a refresher.  I didn't play this as good as I should of, but in the end, the Stormclad charged the Bronzeback and stuck his sword up his spine.  The TK from Thorn (should of been Deadeye) on the Stormblades who assaulted the Cetrati and shot, but missed a few shots.  Even though they failed their charge, they still got their shots off and are in charge range of next round.  Thorn used Reaction Drive to move into charge range of something, but I had no good targets because the Cetrati didn't die as much as I wanted.  The B13 also shot and killed some Bloodrunners and Ryan shot a Magestorm into the Cetrati, but missed, scattering a little on top of the Cetrati a little in front of my Stormblades.  Eiryss moved into position to shoot at Orin but she missed with double 1s.
• Turn 3 for my opponent was really my extra turn.  I moved his army around in ways he didn't like and he couldn't do anything but take a beating next round.  He got in BtB with everything for the most part and then popped his Feat for +2 ARM.  In addition, he casted Defender's Ward on the Cetrati and Shield Walled with them for a ridiculous 24 ARM.  He also casted Inhospitable Ground and that left him with no Fury to transfer to.  His Gladiator also walked into combat with Eiryss, which should of never happened but I got too greedy at killing Orin.
• Turn 4 my turn was more difficult than it should of been.  The B13 killed more things, Ryan shot another shot into the pack of dudes but it didn't do anything.  My Stormclad was in range of his Agonizer and he couldn't be allocated focus.  Thorn was still good but he quite far away from the Stormclad.  I put a focus on Thorn to run and Haley kept everything for herself.  She TA'd the Stormclad through Thorn (who ran into range), arced a Time Bomb into the Cetrati and tried to boost for damage but got no results.  Eiyrss tried to leave combat but got hit by a free strike and died horribly.  The Stormblades assaulted and killed off 2 Cetrati despite their ridiculous armor and the Stormclad moved in range to swing at Xerxis' face for the game.  I rolled really high with the first two sword swings and that was enough.

Normally, I'm pretty good at this game, but in this particular game I think played like fucking sac.  Yes, this is my second game with Cygnar in 5 months, but excuses is for bitches.  I'll go over why I think this here:

• Instead of casting TK on a Gladiator (which was absolutely useless btw), I should of casted Deadeye on my Stormblades and focus fired on the right most Cetrati in front of me.  This would of hopefully produced more damage to take them down and then I could of charged Thorn into that god damn annoying Agonizer.  That would of put my Spear with reach in range of a lot of his models and only one Cetrati would be hitting back.  With that single move, I would of swept away one of his heavies, had another round of full focus on the Stormclad next turn, been in a good flanking position with my Stormblades should he turn his back on me to engage Thorn (the majority won't be able to attack me cause of Feat), and I would of gained a much larger lead.  That would of been the optimal choice of activations, but I went ahead and fucked it up.
• Oh, and I would of never lost Eiryss.  I got greedy, gambled and rolled double 1s.  That's what I get for gambling instead of playing smart.  He would not have Defender's Ward up if she was alive.
• Overall, sloppy ass game.  Even though I still won, I'm still pretty bitter because there was so many mistakes. If I played with the right activations, this game would of been more decisive.