My review of FW 1:

[coreyh2]

If you download the map editor you can look up unit information.

There are two charts in the back of the manual that explains what units are strongest on what terrain. You can notice how the AI places their units.

I've been playing through a map then replaying it with better unit selection and knowledge of enemy units to get golds. Doing that forces you to learn better unit placement.

There are some strategy posts on the forum that are useful.

The turn based strategy games I've played haven't been games that explain what to do. They assume you like puzzles and let you figure it out on your own. I've gotten frustrated with a some of them too. Mostly at the beginning before I figured out how to play them.