Hello,

I've been trying to get into these games for years, but I never catch on. I play a lot of King's Bounty Crossworlds and the other versions, but really want to start playing these Hero games. I have Heroes V and III and can't get past the first few minutes, seems there's a lot to keep up with and I haven't found a good beginner's guide for these games.

Best place to start is in the beginning.
I'd suggest that you start with 1st and/or 2nd game in the series to get a good idea about different game mechanics.
Not to much stuff to worry about. Should be easy get your head around everything. Then naturally move on to 3rd game. Majority of fans prefer the 3rd one.

In my opinion, first three games is the very essence of "Heroes of Might and Magic" games.

I'd say start with those. Games are simple enough . You should be able to just start playing them without tutorials. You'll learn as you go. Games have informative manuals as well, where basics are well enough explained.

Hi,
best way to learn this game is by playing it. I know it doesnt help but more you play more you learn. Experiment with magic. On your turn try to do as many things as possible and never sit in castle skipping turns. You can drain your opponents of resources by taking over theirs mines. Dont worry to fail. These games can be difficult and if you get bad start dont worry to start over. Once you know map better you will do better. Thats all and have fun :) I reccommend starting with HoMM 3 because its the best one and will give you good difficulty curve.

<3

The first map of the main HoMM 3 campaign feels like a tutorial.

I learned by playing it. The first many times I played, I'd get destroyed but I learned a little each time.
And I kept trying because this game has so many fans that it couldn't be bad or unbeatable either. I love strategy games too so I wanted to beat it. Then one time, I started the game and everything clicked and now it's one of my favorite games that I go back to often.

There are guides out there, I've seen and read some but not bookmarked any. Use Google and you'll find plenty of them.

I'd recommend playing HoMM2 first. I really think the single player campaign is better in HoMM2 than any of the other games. After that move on to HoMM3 and decide which game you like better overall. HoMM3 is definitely better for multiplayer, and it's also a more complex game. HoMM2 is better for people trying out the series for the first time.