The thing that is most annoying about this is that high initiative units are often trapped behind low initiative units. It sort of eliminates the advantage of a high-initiative unit when that happens.
exactly ... unless said high initiative unit has move 10 and moves twice before anyone else 
Units should not be able to cross the board in 1 turn, Melee units should not be killing casters at turn 0 but ...
high initiative melee units being stuck behind other units on turn 1 is still annoying. And should be annoying, and shouldn't exist in the first place. (meaning, tactical movement should be limited, AND high initiative/high defense units should be placed closer to the enemy than low initiative.
The best solution (from the perspective of the player) would be allowing the human to place the units (as they could decide between a defensive screen with DPS in the back or the fastest attackers in the front line)-> without seeing the formation of the enemy units.
An alternative would be for Mr. Wardell to create a "positioning AI" which positions the units in a relatively smart formation.
