1000 Points vs Another Dark Angels Army

 (Photos to be added later once I get home)
I did not take notes and the game is rapidly fading from memory which is a big shame.  Spoiler allert: I lost bad.  I really wish I had taken notes so I could go over the game better and thus learn from my mistakes.  Well, that's one mistake right there I need to learn from.  I did take pics so that should help.

On to the game.

Sisters of Battle:
Saint Celestine
Battle Sister Squad(10) with meltagun(2) in a Rhino
Battle Sister Squad(10) with meltagun(2) in a Rhino
Seraphim(8) with Dual Hand Flamers(2)
Dominion Squad(5) with meltagun(2) in an Immolator with Twin-Linked Multi-Melta
Exorcist

Dark Angels (if I remember correctly)
Librarian
Tac Squad(10) with Plasmagun and Plasma Cannon
Tac Squad(10) with Plasmagun(1) supported by a Razorback with Twin-Linked Heavy Bolters.
Dreadnought with Twin-Linked Lascannon, Power Fist and Heavy Flamer
Dreadnought with Twin-Linked Lascannon, Power Fist and Heavy Flamer
Devistator squad with missile launchers(4)
Whirlwind

We played on the dessert board with a good amount of tall terrain.  I kind of messed up my lanes of fire when setting out terrain; the deployment was diagonal and I had set up as if it were the long table edges.Nothing too bad but it did make getting things in place on turn 1 was different.  We played Big Guns Never Tire from the basic rule book with 4 objectives.  I won the roll and deployed 1st.

The Dominions deployed in their Immolator front and center.  The Exorcist just behind them kept a large rock on thier side which limited the exposed sides to virtually front armor only.  The enemy would have to get into my deployment zone before they could get a side armor shot.  The troops deployed back and in cover; one out of line of sight from most of the board.  The Exorcist was on one objective and the hiden Sisters on the other.  Saint Celestine joined the Seraphim in reserves.

The Dark Angels deployed in the hills, splitting their force left and right while making a deadly cross fire zone in the center of the board. The tactical squads brok down into combat squads to better cover the area. Back and center the Whirlwind deployed fully hidden where it could fire its barrage unmolested.  Knowing the Dominios carried melta he chose to tuck his Dreadnought back behind solid cover.  Or so he thought.  The 12" redeployment let the Dominions' Immolator get a line on the right side Dreadnought.  The Dark Angels failed to sieze initiative; the Sisters kept the first turn.

Turn 1

The Dominions moved forward and disembarked in front of their target Dreadnought.  They fired twin-linked with their faith plus the Immolator's main guns all in double penitration range yet managed only a glance and a weapon distroyed against the Power Fist.  The Exorcist could not get line of sight to the Dreadnought and quit frankly I thought I would not need to back up the Dominions in taking out a Dread.  The Exorcist fired 4 missiles into the right side tacticals killing one marine.

The Dark Angels unloaded on the Dominions.  Krak missiles and plasma fire wreaked the Immolater and the Dreadnought killed 2 Dominion Sisters with shooting and a 3rd in the assault phase.  On the other side of the board one combat squad of Dark Angels in their Razorback moved to engage the forward most Battle Sister squad.  The squad disembarked and fired but only managed to cause two galncing hits after saves.

Turn 2

Saint Celestine and the Seraphim did not come in from reserves, which hurt.  The wounded rhino moved forward where the Battle Sisteres disembarked in front of the Razorbaks troops.  The second troop squad had nothing they could reasonablly get to so held their position on the objective.  The Exorcist fired a single missile at the Librarian but failed to wound.  The only good news came from the disembarked Battle Sisters who fired meltaguns rapid fired their bolters into the combat squad and managed to kill them all in one turn.  The two Dominions syated locked in combat with the Dreadnought as neither side managed to cause a wound.

On the Dark Angels turn, the disembarked Battle Sisters made a perfect target for the Whirlwind's large blast.  Heavy Bolter fire from the Razorback killed2 more and the remainder were removed as the second half of the combat squaded tacticals moved in closer.  The right side tactical squads moved forward around the Dreadnought combat closing in on the Exorcist.  However before they could reach, the missile launchers from the Devistator squad caused a penitrating hit which distroyed the Exorcists weapon.  In the assault phase, one more Dominion fell to the Dreadnought which left the remaining Dominion Superior locked in combat.

I have grown to use my Exorcists as a guide to how the battle is going.  If at the end of turn 3 I still have an Exorcist that can fire I almost always win.  Having no working Exorcists at the end of turn 2 was a bad, bad omen.

Turn 3

The reserves failed to come in yet again.  The wounded Rhino had nothing it could do but the second squad moved forward just enough to fire its meltaguuns from inside.  The Now useless Exorcist moved back trying to get out of line of sight from everything.  The Battle Sisters melta fire did nothing to the Razorback.  In the assault, the final Dominion fell. 

On the Dark Angels turn, the Whirlwind moved at top speed out from behind its cover so that it could use direct fire on its next turn.  The Devistators and the Razorback turned their attention to the remaining Rhino and managed to wreak it; the embarked troops bailed out of the back and covered the objective they had recently left.

Turn 4

... and the reserves automatically came in.  Finally.  I chose to deepstrike them in close to the squad covering their objective in hopes to either drive them off or (more likely) get a resurection denial from the Saint next turn.  Unfortunantly the Seraphim scattered bad and landed on top of the Dark Angels squad.  Mishap had the be placed by my opponent who rightly chose to place them at the far table corner.

On the Dark Angels turn ... well, what's to say?  Scattered half-hearted firing from the Dark Angels removed about half of the remaining Battle Sister squad.  I conceded the game at the end of 4.

What Worked:

(* crickets chirping *)
Rapid firing bolters was my only strong point for the game.

What Didn't:

My dice for one.  Now it is easy to blame a loss on bad luck but it sure gave me a steep hill to climb when scouting Dominions unload on a walker at close range and only manage to remove a single close combat weapon.  They consistantly take out land raiders this way. Each penitrating hit has a 50|50 chance of exploding the vehicle but not if you roll 1's and 2'.  That and my opponents Razorback was deadly with that heavy bolter.  He consistanly rolled 6's on penitration rolls and ate up Hull Points from two rhinos one after the other.  And he was shrewd; he keep the Razorback at a range where his heavy bolter could could fire but outside of what the melta sisters could reach on their next turn.

But luck can only go so far and I should have done better with what I had.

Reserves left me cold.  My big anti-infantry unit sat out the game waiting to come in. 

Deepstrike goes right there with it.  With no way to help bring them in faster and no way to reduce scatter it is always a risk to Deepstrike for the Sororitas.  I kept them back so they would not be shot up as they made their way across the board and I think this was a big mistake. For one thing they will take a turn of shooting when they come in from reserves anway.  Plus they will probably be in the open when they come in via deepstrike.  Also they will possibly be assaulted on the opponent's turn where they will not get the extra attack AND not have any faithpoints to use when they are assaulted.

So, I need to watch my lanes of fire when setting out terrain and remember where the deployment zones are.
No more deepstriking Sisters.  Have I said that before?  If I have not written it down before I know I have surely said it to myself.  Stop it.  Serapim do better crossing the board in the open (which they should be finding cover of slipping along the flanks) than they do sitting in reserves and mishapping on the way in.

And in the end, I did have a fun game and my opponent was great guy to play against.  Besides, sometimes you can learn a lot more mistakes than you can from successes.