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[Zarron]

I've played a few games using a friend's Undead and Coral Elves, but tomorrow is my first attempt using an army I built. I bought three kickers of Frostwings. Ignoring dragons or terrain (I'll be borrowing a Coastland City and a Coastland Tower and two dragons when I play). As you'll see, the dragons don't really matter to me. Here is what I opened:

Monsters: 1 Wolf Pack; 1 Remorhaz; 1 Cryohydra (12 Points)
Melee: 3 Vindicators; 2 Defenders; 4 Advocates (17)
Cavalry: 2 Wolf Master; 1 Hound Master (5 points)
Missile: 1 Assaulter; 1 Dispatcher; 3 Destroyer; 2 Attacker (9 points)
Magic: 2 Apprentice (2 points)

Given that, I ended deciding on giving up on Magic and going with this breakdown for a 36-point game:

Horde: Wolf Pack; 2 Vindicators; Wolf Master; Advocate
Campaign: Cryohydra; Vindicator; Defender; 2 Advocate
Home: Assaulter; Dispatcher; Wolf Master; Defender; 2 Attacker; 2 Destroyer

Was this the best I could go? Should I drop some of the Home shooters for the 2 Apprentices? I was also considering dropping the Wolf Masters to grab more smaller dice, but I wasn't sure if that was a good trade. My general plan is to push my home tower to the 8th face as fast as possible while holding ground elsewhere. Then, once I've got that, take advantage of my shooting.

Any thoughts or suggestions? Thank you!

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I've got a slightly more detailed explanation of my thought process here http://recordingofinterestingthings.blogspot.com/2012/05/dragon-dice-frostwings.html#more

[stormywaters]

Here are a couple of pointers to get you started:

1. When you split your army, split your points into 18-17-1. You only have two marches, so having two armies as large as possible is what you want. Splitting them more-or-less evenly just means three small armies.

2. Monsters should fill a very specific role in your army, and I don't know that a Cryohydra does that. It's a solid hitter, but it's tying up four points and provides almost no saves whatsoever. In Dragon Dice, reliability is key. You want to consistently hit hard, and not be crushed by a moderately bad save roll. On that note, Remorhaz is great for certain scenarios, as Swallow is excellent for taking out troublesome units (such as a Troll). Wolf Pack is a solid choice as well, because Rend can chain into a ton of damage with a decent roll.

3. I've never been a fan of Frostwing Cavalry. They have alright maneuvers, but they don't have Fly, and as such, don't save well. I'd see about some other options, especially because Fly ignores Transmute Rock to Mud (which will be a HUGE help).

4. Play mages. I can't stress this enough. Dragon Dice revolves around mages, unfortunately, but Frostwing mages (especially Magus) are phenomenal. They have a three-Fly face, produce solid magic, disrupt your opponent's mages, and have excellent ways to augment your melee or missile army. You've got Lightning Strike, Wind Walk, Wind Wall, Fields of Ice, etc. Beat up your opponent, keep those Wind Walks stacking up so you can march the terrains, and just win it.

[cliffwiggs]

Every player has a style and every race has a style.

For frostwings I usually play a missile army more than melee.

their fly's give you both saves and maneuvers.

I also like the bear master, rend can be a heavy melee hitter.
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[Zarron]

I agree; once I get some more magic, I plan to incorporate it. How many monsters is too many monsters? I pulled two Fire Walker kickers and opened a Phoenix and a Genie, so my list now looks like this:

Home: Genie, Phoenix, Ashbringer, Sunflare, Sunburst, 2 Apprentices, Explorer
Frontier: Explorer
Away: Wolf Pack, 3 Vindicators, 2 Defenders, Explorer

I feel like I need more dice, but I also don't want to give up the Vindicators' saves and Smite. Should I be trying to down grade dice as my collection grows? Should I replace those two defenders with four common melee units, for example?

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Full collection including the two Fire Walker kickers:

Monsters: 1 Wolf Pack; 1 Remorhaz; 1 Cryohydra | 1 Phoenix; 1 Genie
Melee: 3 Vindicators; 2 Defenders; 4 Advocates | 1 Expeditioner; 3 Explorers; 1 Adventurer; 1 Guardian
Cavalry: 2 Wolf Masters; 1 Hound Master | 2 Shadowchasers
Missile: 1 Assaulter; 1 Dispatcher; 3 Destroyers; 2 Attackers | 2 Fire
Masters; 1 Fire Starter
Magic: 2 Apprentice | 1 Ashbringer; 1 Sunflare; 1 Sunburst