[jwallstone]

What class are you playing? That changes playing style quite a bit. Also, have you gotten the rage box? That is one of the first things to do and helps a lot.

I'm also a HOMM veteran who got sucked into this game (and like it more than HOMM now). While it is true that they are similar in style, KB does require a slight change in strategy. I'll go into some of that later, but for now, realize that many areas are DESIGNED to be significantly more difficult. The Wizard Tower (in Arlania) and Snakes Underground are more difficult than surrounding wandering troops, the first one significantly so and the second one just a little bit more difficult. Part of the playing strategy is in fact figuring out what order to approach some of the areas and quests. You can't go stomping through the countryside quite like in HOMM. You can stick to Greenwort to start off safely, (minus a couple of tough Knight/Horsemen stacks), then Verlon Forest is generally good to approach next, then most parts of Arlania or the swamp portion of Marshan Swamp.

Only after leveling a bit and completing easy quests (go talk to this person, bring this item here, etc), can you attack some of the tougher enemies. This is one big difference with HOMM. You cannot simply wait a week to buy more troops. You have to level up your hero to gain leadership to buy more troops to increase in power, which requires strategic thinking about the order in which to approach the game. In some sense, heroes lag behind the army in HOMM, as you get more troops each week, you can take on stronger stacks and get experience; in KB, your army lags behind the hero as you have to develop your hero before you're able to get a larger army.

That being said, one helpful tactic to learn is dodging enemies. Your hero is much faster than all enemies (be careful of beholders, vampires, and other fast stacks though), and with a little practice, you can learn how to dodge given just a little open space. The AI is rather stupid and will simply move toward your hero's last position for a short duration of time before changing direction. With dodging, you can run around each new area you enter and collect all the leadership flags, giving a nice boost to your army. Doing so in each new area helps you conquer the troops in the area.

Anyway, hope that helps, I'll try to write more later.