Hi
john, welcome to the Org. ~:wave:
If you are new to strategy type games, STW might be a better starting point. The strategic campaign is very simple with much fewer decisions to make compared to TW:S2. With the battles, there are fewer unit types to deal with and the battles develop slower in STW than in many of the later games - and many TW vets feel this is a good thing. The units move slower and don't rout as quickly so you have time to use tactics and make adjustments during a battle to correct a bad situation. STW will give you a taste of the kind of thinking required at a basic level, but the jump to TW:S2 is a big one. CA really stepped up the challenge with regards to the difficulty. Many TW vets struggled with trying just to survive the early turns of the game during the first weeks after its release so don't feel bad if you are having difficulties with it. Once people started figuring out how to manage their clan, it became a beatable game.
For TW:S2 there is an excellent guide written by
frogbeastegg to use as a starting point.