Yes, the worm is extremely frustrating on Tactician, but it doesn't always target your party immediately, so you do have a play. In fact, I was so amused by the fact that I could draw Alexander back to Gareth and the other members of the Seeker camp, I didn't mind so much.
With Alice, you simply get one shotted if your party is bunched together and / or you don't have a lot of foreknowledge. My preference is to play all elemental damage out in the open, but defensively (lots of armour regen spells) with the party bunched together (for leadership bonuses and surface elemental affinity) without any cheesy out of combat preparation, thus it was annoying to fight Alice because I was basically required to respec. If the 100% increased resistance to cold and immunity to freeze wasn't given to her as soon as the fight starts, I would have killed her easily in one or two turns too (after having to space my party out and cast Living on the Edge).
