Well I'm not sure what kind of patch could be added now to fix things.

Last night I started Act II by taking the opponent capital that was next to me on the first turn. The odds were literally 0%/100%, and I brought my dragon along. Over two hours later, all recruits gone, I finally won the battle. I used my dragon for most of the time just widdling away the enemy units. When those stopped producing I knocked out the turrets. Then I moved my small remaining army that I had been protecting in the far corner over the map to capture everything. It was actually a lot of fun ... but I wouldn't want to do it again.

It did prove though that if used correctly a dragon can when about any battle.