Running away?

[UngainlyTitan]

The Party - 4 lvl 1 characters, a seeker, a warlock, a fighter and a battlemind

The Enemy - Kobolds, 1 lvl kobold skirmisher, 3 lvl 2 kobold dragonshields and 1 lvl 3 kobold wyrmpriest (acid)

Also the party was ambushed, which started them off pretty beat up, and the party was having some bad rolls while the enemies had 4 crits during the course of the encounter. 3 of the 4 players are brand new to D&D and they did have some pretty weak team tactics. I feel bad for them, and it makes me feel like I did something wrong, still learning I guess. Any advice?

Not going to repeat the good advise already given just comment on the encounter composition.
Kobold Dragonshields are tough, 3 of them backed up by a controller makes for a tough encounter for a party with no leader or controller.
For that party I would have replaced 2 of the Dragonsheild with about 10 minions.

On the party side, in my own experience warlock is a difficult striker to get the most out of them.

 

[jamesanthonyspencer]

Thanks to all who helped, there were some great ideals here and I am once again pleasantly surprised at the level of intelligence in this community, and for a fantasy themed game form a surprising lack of trolls.

Thanks again to all.