[camelotcrusade]

Are you guys talking about the original WoTN or Ice and Fire?

In Ice and Fire you need to acquire all the Valkyries before you get the ability to fly - after the first battle with Guilford, I guess. I haven't experienced it firsthand, but I read this in a Russian article and I certainly did not get my winged horse after the first valkyrie. In the original campaign you get the horse as indicated by Nike-IT.

Why did they do this? Your guess is as good as mine, but my theory is they realized early flight comes with a trade-off. Sure, you can fly directly to everything that interests you, but once you've had your fun with that you're left with boring, picked-over maps. You also catapult up in power and unit choices quickly, bypassing the typical power and level curve. In short, they seem to have decided they want a more gradual progression for Ice and Fire rather a big spike with a large drop-off later. It's a big change and it will make some people unhappy. Personally, I like it, as early flight was overwhelming for me in WoTN and sabotaged a mid-game I might have otherwise enjoyed. YMMV.