Looks like Tycho (of Penny-Arcade) is having some trouble with the game

As always, the man has a way with words (edited, of course, for the kidzzz). Any hints? I doubt he'll read this post but you never know...

http://www.penny-arcade.com/2013/05/27

The second level that needed managing was Card Hunter. Specifically, a Level Eight mission called the Compass of ******* Xorr. I added the “*******” there, that’s not canon. But I had been ****** so thoroughly and with such conceptual rigor that ******* seemed to suffuse the proceedings. In my thoughts, this is how it came to be known.​

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Things were made even more gruesome by the fact that I had played every other level available to me. Previously, I had a few choices, but I’d winnowed them down. And yeah, I could play an older level. But this feels, is meant to feel, like a campaign. I want to go forward. I can’t, though, because of armored dogs. Dogs that wear armor, actual armored dogs. And each of these armor cards are Keeps, which means they block damage and return to hand, shaving off half or more of the damage from every attack. These ****ers are running all over the place and biting my **** and eating, actually eating with their mouths, my wizard.​

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I had learned previously, learned by absolute necessity, the power of a wizard on the run. Everybody knows about glass cannons: they’re a type of cannon that is super fragile. I had Phaedrus dressed to the nines, but he was essentially a mystical jackhammer. He dealt big and small hits at a variety of ranges and then he was eviscerated. His life could be described on a single sheet titled Eviscerated and Still Got All My Viscera, and there would be no marks in the second column. They’re magic hermits, and you have to play them that way. They want to be alone.​

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I have described how Deckbuilding works in Card Hunter: similar to World of Warcraft, or Diablo, you dress your paper doll and now you’re ready to go. I might build a particular set for a particular, high-level encounter on one of those games, but generally stuff is getting disenchanted or sold. That’s how I’ve been playing Card Hunter, and it finally stopped working.​

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There are Ways, plural, of the Warrior. Priests, in my experience, have an even wider palette here. But Wizards are straight-up, balls-out, bat**** ******* loco. Cards that just pick up every enemy and scatter them to the four winds. Sorcerous walls of bizarre, perhaps elfin make. Spells to boil a man’s armor. Jets of wicked acid. Things turned around when I realized that. Obviously, treasure gets sold. But even a super old, practically heirloom piece might have some little twinkle on it that might save the day. Or the turn. I had to give up my eldritch Death Star for a lean, versatile, fundamentally more mobile human platform.​

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I’m not selling off anymore, not the way I was. This might look like the existing systems, but underneath it’s something else. Now, I’ve got **** poking, pressing, and protruding from my armoire. I never know when I’m gonna need that boa. But that’s not true, not really. I need it constantly. I need that boa basically all the time.​

 

I'm guessing it's the step-in-there-beyond-your-defenders-and-kill-you attacks. Armored Dogs don't seem to have those frustrating back attacks, so it must be that these dogs sense his Wizard is weak and thus Lunging Thrust, Penetrating Lunge, or, worse, Vicious Thrust him even if his teammates try to form a defensive line.

- Options:

Ditch the Wizard and rebuild a team without him. You'll want other characters to do specialty quests later, anyway.

- Options for those who don't have much time:

Force Blast, Whirlwind Enemies. The latter is unlikely to be in your inventory. The former is better than Force Bolt, and is the only way to stop Step 1 Attacks (since it forces the target back 2).

Bash. Not on your Wizard; on your Warrior. Keep "the front line" even farther away.

Any Encumber effect, any Halt, or any terrain attachment that enforces Stop.

Any Penetrating Attack whatsoever, no matter how weak. If you're having trouble with Armor, despite already having Boiling Armor, there's not much else to add.

And I presume that if you could Heal your Wizard, you would already have done so.

 

I don't recall having particular trouble with that module, despite using dual-wizards. It could be I just lucked out, but then again at that point during my teams growth I was really big on Force Bolts and Blasts, so maybe that was it.

My personal mantra: The solution is every problem is more wizards.

 

All sound advice above.

I can't remember exactly what equipment I had at the time, but I usually go through the first playthrough with the standard Wizard/Priest/Warrior.

Penetrating attacks are usually available for your wizard and warrior.

Priests can stock up with a fair few Wavering Faith cards if you're low on armour stripping alternatives.

I'll often pass the first turn on similar maps (if surrounded), just to burn the enemy move cards, it helps to make sure they won't just hop off those delicious terrain attachments.