Reply To: How to properly incorporate army into Deckbuilder + Skirmish game?

[Stephen Hurn]

This sounds a lot like Star Realms. In that game they use the concept of bases and ships. Bases are permanent until they are destroyed, while ships are used and sent straight to the discard pile.
The basic problem you have here is that your decks are cycling too fast. There are a number of ways to slow them down:- introduce more utility cards that are used and immediately discarded;- slow down draw power so that players can draw less cards per turn;- limit the number of cards that can be deployed as units each round.
Any one of these three things will do what you need.