BR: 35pts Retribution vs. Protectorate

Before we begin, yes, I have a Retribution army.  I caved in, bought and assembled the army over the weekend.  My wife hates me a little.. but I promised her this is going to be my last big purchase in a long time!

Anyways, the game was 35pts, Retribution of Scryah vs. Protectorate.
It was Adeptis Rahn vs pFerora.

His list consisted for Ferora, max unit and full command of Errants, Templar 'jack, Vaquisher 'jack and the Avatar. Oh, and the standard Choir and a Vassal.

My list is as follows:

Points: 35
Adeptis Rahn Shyeel (*6pts)
* Manticore (8pts)
* Phoenix (10pts)
Dawnguard Sentinels (Leader and 9 Grunts) (9pts)
* Dawnguard Sentinel Officer & Standard (2pts)
House Shyeel Battle Mages (Leader and 5 Grunts) (5pts)
Arcanist (1pts)
House Shyeel Magister (2pts)
House Shyeel Magister (2pts)
Mage Hunter Assassin (2pts)

The game starts out with him going first, pathfindering and moving up his Errants and they're immune to spells.  I try to kill the dude that grants that bonus and I need 5s to hit on two dice with my Manticore. I miss twice. I shoot again, hit and then roll double 1s for damage when I need a 5 to kill. I knew instantly its going to be one of those games.

I cast Polarity Shield (no charging the unit at the front arc) on my Sents, run them up in front of my jacks and move closer up. Cast Force Field on Rahn and that was the turn. On his turn, he gambles and tries to kill the Mage Hunter Assassin with a charge from his Errants and her superior def stopped him. Only one of the Errants get to attack. He also tried to shoot one of his own guys with the Vanquisher in hopes of scattering into my dudes, but Rahn's Force Field says no and I threw the template back on his units. 3 Errants die. The Next turn, my Sentinels with POW12 Reach and Weapon Master shits on his unit and with combined fire from the rest of the Battle Mages (mittens), I killed the entire unit.

I sent two Sents charging at the Avatar, which activated Enliven and he decided to move into melee reach range of my Phoenix. I activated a Magister first, hitting and then combo smiting the Avatar away from the Phoenix. The other Magister Whip Lashes the Phoenix into a better charging arc by shooting at the Avatar and then the Phoenix charged in with his POW19 (thanks to the Arcanist) Thermal Blade and cuts the Avatar down a good amount. My Mage Hunter Assassin comes out of nowhere and with some decent rolling, puts the last few hitboxes of damage on the Avatar and he falls.

His next turn sees Ferora moving up and casting her Feat.. which basically sets everything on fire within her control range. Being an Infantry heavy army, this was quite painful. I asked earlier about the Templar having reach or not and I was told no.. but apparently when I was in the bathroom, it was a simple error that he indeed had range. This meant that the Templar had the counter charge on my Phoenix and managed to rip both its arms off. The shooting from the Vanquisher killed a good deal of Sentinels who were bunched together. Next turn, and this happened through the entire game, I forget about Sentinels having Vengeance (move 3" and free attack if a Sent was killed) and charged what I could at the Templar. I took my fire damage and some more infantry die (the MHA was left with 1 box) and the Arcanist repairs the arms on the Phoenix and the Phoenix swings for dear life. He manages to rip the mace arm off the Templar and damages his movement. I do some more elven tricks and get my Manticore into charging position from using Telekensis and Whip Lash with 3 Focus, charge a naked Feora and whiffed every attack even with boosted hit rolls. Failed assassination attempt #1.

I pop Rahn's feat on this turn and basically turn the Mittens into push/pull/KDers on a good amount of units and still fail epically to do any damage except for KDing the Vanquisher and pushing him out of Ferora's control range. Next turn, Feora casts some insane damage on herself and with full focus, kills the Manticore. I use more Elven BS, kill the Templar by combo-smiting his face in with a Magister, slamming it into some units to free up a charge lane, cast TK on the Phoenix and move it into move range of Ferora and let loose with 2 POW19 continuous fire attacks with boosted hit rolls (since she has def 15) that FAILS TO KILL HER even though she had no focus (leaves her with 2 boxes). Failed assassination attempt #2.

On her attempt, she risks the free strike from the Phoenix but he catches her with +2 to hit and a free damage die and she falls over. It was her attempt at ending the game there and killing Rahn, but I think she should of just raped the Phoenix and chance the next turn.. even though I'd probably just boost a Force Hammer at her face and end it with charging Sents + Magister.

But man.. what a game. By the end of the game we had 3 wrecked Warjacks nearly stacked on top of eachother: Avatar, Manticore and Templar, and a ton of Infantry dead on both sides. It was a bloodbath.. we had a hell of a lot of fun.

Two main rules questions came up and some minor errors on my part since it's my first game as RoS. Rules first!

1. I had 3 Sents in charge range of the Templar but my Officer and another Sent had their backs turned at Feora (in melee range) at one point. I declare a charge with my Sents at the Templar but I wasn't allowed to just turn around with my 2 Sents near Feora and swing at her. It was argued that I could only charge + attack the Templar because that's what I charged. I argued that charge is simply an order and that any model in the unit can charge/move/attack at any units they so please.. so I could have turned around and just hit Ferora with my 2 Sents if I wanted to. Anyways, no biggy.

2. This is probably an easy one.. but I managed to kill the Templar with a combo-smite from my Magister. Does the slam rules still come in effect even though the model dies from the attack? It opened up a charge lane but I was still able to move and swing at Feora in the end so it wasn't a huge deal.

Now for my RoS blunders:

1. Forgetting about Vengeance on Sents. This one is huge.. 3" of free move could of easily generated a ton more threat and charge range.. not to mention free attacks with my Sents near Feora. Damnit.

2. Not moving Battle Mages more aggressively and not taking advantage of the Magister's Combo-Smite as much.

3. Forgetting about Phoenix Shield every turn after the first turn the Phoenix took damage and forgetting about the Manticore's spend 1 FOC for +3 Str. Not that it would of helped much because I didn't HIT anything.. but being able to double-hand throw Feora into charging Sents and the Phoenix would of worked out a lot better. Oh, and I keep forgetting that the Thermal Blade from the Phoenix has continuous fire.

Great game, had a lot of fun and learned a lot!