Well, well, well... another day, another defeat...
Looking back, I made a few critical mistakes :
- I never should have taken the Abattoir. At 3000 points, it's just too expensive for what it does. For the same price, I could have had a C'tan (teleporting AND supreme commander), another Pylon and another Monolith + 3 Obelisks. The biggest problem with both the Orb and the Abattoir is that they are huge targets, all the more so because they usually are the only formations on the table at the start of the battle. Living Metal only goes so far...
- I think I shouldn't have sent the Destroyers on turn 1. I should perhaps have waited for Flogus to move a bit. Truth is, I was afraid he would put half of his army on OW and I wanted to keep the pressure on him.
- My decisive 2nd turn assault was... not decisive at all. I used almost 1000 points of troops to destroy a damaged Mech. Inf. Company and break the Warhounds, and was left at the mercy of the rest of Flogus' army. If only those SHTs and Manticores had been 1cm closer, it would have made a big difference...
Still, it was a fun game, if a bit frustrating because of some poor dice rolls (missing 4 saves out of 6 for my Abattoir was somewhat annoying, not to mention missing its activation roll on turn 2). Flogus really did a good job a keeping all of his formation in a tight bunch, benefiting from lots of support during assaults.
Two (final) remarks:
- It has been mentioned several times already, but Vultures really seem to be over the top. 8 AT2+ shots at 120cm on a skimmer  OK, they're one-shots, but that usually enough to do a lot of damage. And once they've fired their missiles, they're still excellent units (fast, scouts, skimmer).
- I've now used both the Orb and the Abattoir, and I can't help but feel a bit disappointed by both, especially the Abattoir. Despite their living metal armour, they die relatively easily. Keeping them in cover is hardly an option since a) they're both quite big and b) there are so many ways around cover (artillery, skimmers, air units, teleportation, fast moving units, etc.) that it's almost impossible to hide them from your opponent. And even when they don't die, they almost always end up broken on turn 1. I think something should be done about this as, right now, I see little incentive to take them in 3000 points game, especially the Abattoir. The Orb is better, I guess, because it has long range fire, but the Abattoir really is a points sink: it way too slow and HAS to get in base-to-base contact to be at peak efficiency.
Suggestions:
- The Orb should have something else... Perhaps making his barrage shot the same range as its TK shot? That way, you could at least keep it in your deployment zone. A 75cm range makes it really vulnerable, and even though 12BP is nothing to sneeze at, it hardly does any damage on well-armoured units or units in cover. For 750 points, it should be... I don't know, more.
- For the Abattoir, two suggestions:
* Up its move to 25cm;
* Up its DCs to 8.
Otherwise I see no reason to take it over the Orb. Given the choice betwenn a 2+TK (D6) 90cm shot and three 3+ CC TK(D3) attacks, I choose the former without hesitation.
Your opinions are more than welcome. Oh, and thanks for reading this far! 
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) towards the Infantry Company in the nearby woods...
BP with Disrupt and a 300 cm range. If you take 3 Artillery Batteries of Bombards, for 750 points you have (10 +