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I played my first game against the Protectorate of Menoth last night. I was slightly intimidated because I am still fairly new to the game and my opponent seemed very knowledgeable and had a very finely painted army. We played a standard gear grinding caster kill game of mangled metal at 350.

His force consisted of Renzik in the middle of his deployment zone with a Reckoner to his immediate right and a Revenger on each side. My force was Karchev, a Destroyer, and a Kodiak, deployed from left to right.

First turn he ran everyone forward and was out of range to do anything. Karchev then walked his group forward having the destroyer launch a bombard shot at a Revenger who was in range. The shot missed (surprised anyone?) and fell harmlessly into the ground three inches away.
Secont turn began with a revenger moving into spell range of Karchev. Renzik used the arc node to cast brand of heresy on Karchev and used his remaining focus to cast Hate Monger on the Reckoner. The Hateful reckoner then charged Karchev and due to some poor rolls and Karchev’s ridiculous armor, the Reckoner barely scraped Karchev’s knee. The second revenger moved onto a hill and stood ready to get involved next turn.
Karchev, using his hundred plus years of experience kept his jacks close. First he used Fissure to knock down and damage both the Reckoner and the revenger. Then he cast unearthly rage. The destroyer moved in and smashed into the Reckoner with it’s axe and took out the right arm. All remaining focus was on the Kodiak. The Kodiak charged and used its hammer fists to make a very quick mess of the Reckoner. At the end of turn two, all that remained were two light warjacks and Mr. Renzik, a fine situation for any Khadoran Heavy crew.
Renzik began turn three by moving up the revenger on the hill and arcing brand of heresy into the Kodiak’s back. Then, after casting Hate Monger on himself, Renzik charged the Kodiak and after several boosted attacks tore it into tiny pieces. The first revenger stood up and walked over to where Karchev was.
Karchev then, weighing the odds of actually taking damage from the revenger’s free strike, charged Renzik over the fallen Reckoner by activating the arcantric turbine. The free strike hit and did nothing. Having cast unearthly rage, Karchev proceeded to turn Renzik into a sticky menite goo.
Karchev Wins!

Please feel free to shoot my victory full of holes. Tell me how I could have lost or secured a win even better. I need criticism in order to get better. I’m still new at this but I thank you all for your advice.

Sounds more like the Menoth player had no experience against Karchev IMO. Sounds pretty sound as far as your tactics and how to use Karchev. Karchev's biggest problem is Eiryss in 500pt matches so it's good to have a Manhunters or widows to take care of her. In mangled metal I would also drop the destroyer as his bombard usually does next to no damage and take another melee jack. Vlad is also good in mangled metal because of his feat and S&P.

I'm going to try this point by point.

Guyver68 wrote:
First turn he ran everyone forward and was out of range to do anything. Karchev then walked his group forward having the destroyer launch a bombard shot at a Revenger who was in range.

Did he literally run? If he did, he wouldn't have been able to do anything, regardless of range. A model's activation ends immediately after completeing a run. Also, I would have cast Sidearms or Tow just to do something with that focus. Focus points left on Karchev don't add to his ARM and are effectively wasted if unused. Reznik's own melee threat range is low, so you should be to judge when is a good time to drop the spell before he rips you a new one for having an upkeep on Karchev.

Secont turn began with a revenger moving into spell range of Karchev. Renzik used the arc node to cast brand of heresy on Karchev and used his remaining focus to cast Hate Monger on the Reckoner.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't Hate Monger range Self? It's the +3 STR and Flying Steel spell, right? That one can't be cast on a Reckoner, IIRC.

The Hateful reckoner then charged Karchev and due to some poor rolls and Karchev’s ridiculous armor, the Reckoner barely scraped Karchev’s knee.

If a Reckoner had Hate Monger on it, it would be P+S 20 vs. ARM 20 with boosted damage from Brand of Heresy. It's not so ridiculous when the dice rolls are straight damage. Although, bad enough dice would leave Karchev pretty much unharmed, I suppose.

Karchev, using his hundred plus years of experience kept his jacks close. First he used Fissure to knock down and damage both the Reckoner and the revenger. Then he cast unearthly rage.

You should have cast Unearthly Rage first. Fissure's damage rolls are considered melee damage and thus get boosted. The attack rolls however do not. Yes, it's unnecessarily confusing.

The destroyer moved in and smashed into the Reckoner with it’s axe and took out the right arm. All remaining focus was on the Kodiak. The Kodiak charged and used its hammer fists to make a very quick mess of the Reckoner.

Here, I would have activated the Kodiak first. With Unearthly Rage up and a knocked down target, it's pretty much guaranteed to waste anything. That would have freed up the Destroyer to shoot something. If the Kodiak failed to kill the Reckoner, you could still have had the Destroyer finish it if necessary.

The rest of the battle went fine. Your opponent had to try something and his heavy hitter was down. So he exposed his warcaster, and you stomped him into the mud for it. Nice work. Your opponent might have been an experienced player, but it sounds like he just got Reznik. Maybe next time he'll give you more of a challenge.

Grats on the win!

Oomie - I did actually cast unearthly rage first and got the boosted damage. Thats how my power 12's hurt their armor 20's I didnt know Hate Monger was self only. He cast it about like it was ok. I didnt even think to question it cuase he seemed pretty knowledgable about everything else.
Good point on the Kodiak and destroyer though. I'll keep that in mind next time.

Thanks for the help!

Hate Monger is a Self Spell. Did the Menoth player use Reznik's feat at all?