Questions about the difficulty for newbs.

[Lemur]

Here's a succinct version of the battle of Stirling Bridge. The screenwriter for Braveheart has admitted that he knew he was writing bad history, but felt there was no way they'd have the budget to film a crazy bridge battle.

Anyway, here's the short version.

[Blodrast]

well, first of all, MP is quite a lot different from SP. MP suffers from various...issues that have to do with balance and most profitable units. You can find a lot of details in the MP forums, but basically being very good in SP doesn't count for much in MP. However, given a bit of time, you'll catch on, don't worry. Everybody is a newbie in the beginning, nothing wrong with it.
As far as the SP game goes, yes, it takes a bit of time for everything to sink in, and I recommend you re-read FBE's guides after playing for a while. I am pretty sure you'll see things and understand them in a different light once you've actually passed by the initial stage where everything goes out of control and half your units are routing and you forget which keys to press and what they do... ;)

but cheer up, we've all been there (*cough* some of us still are *cough*), nothing to worry about. Give it a little time, and you'll get the hang of it, and you'll love it!

[Spuddicus]

but cheer up, we've all been there (*cough* some of us still are *cough*), nothing to worry about.

yeah ... I've been befuddled ever since trying to figure out whether or not to convert to Christianity and loose my Warrior Monks.