Battle Mage

[Gonzo]

I am very interested in trying to play a battle mage type class. I don't know if this is at all feasible, but this is my idea. I just want to know if this would work at all or suck.

I would pick an orc because of the heavy armor racial. I would go with dark magic for crystal shards and morph that to crystal fragments. I wanna go with shards for the knock down and it would be a good starter/ranged attack. the only downside is the cast time. I would use a 2h for the charge and uppercut, that I would combo with the shards as well. I would use heavy armor as well. This all sounds good in my head, but still not sure. So what do you guys think?

Or does anybody have any ideas for a melee build with a good ranged magic ability?