Is it just me or the battles in BAK are extremely hard? Does anybody have some advice on the matter?
I'm stuck at the first chapter because it takes me at least three tries to win any fight, and some of them I just can't win.

It's been a while since I played Chapter 1, so I'm not sure if this will help . . .

When you're starting out in the game, make sure you're strategic about which skills you develop for each character. I'd only click on 3-4 for each person, because then I think they'll improve faster. Obviously, Owyn's magical abilities should be highlighted, which will help in combat, and it also helps to have one swordsman and one archer in the group (so click on "melee" for the swordsman, and so on).

Once you're in battle, make sure you use each character's strengths. For instance, Owyn should be used for his spells (which in the beginning will mostly just be Despair Thy Eyes)--don't make him hit enemies with his stupid stick, because that's not really his strong point.

Always keep your characters' armor and weapons in good condition. Make sure your characters are well-rested and haven't been poisoned by their rations before they enter combat.

When you see enemies from a distance, click on them. You'll have the option of trying to sneak up on them, which can give you an advantage.

Combat is going to be hard in the beginning, and unlike in Betrayal in Antara (where you could use a cheat code to slay all your enemies with lightning), there's no easy way out . . . you just have to keep doing it until you get better.

Read the manual and use above mentioned Despair Thy Eyes. As for the manual, it really, REALLY helped me understand the combat mechanics better and the combat seemed quite easy after that.

Thank you both. I'll keep you posted.

If you're finding the combat too difficult, you may not have properly prepared your troops.
When u begin, do not make the mistake of heading north to pick up the 2 spells in Tyr-Sog because you'll have to kill the Sorcerer in the Trap. This combat should ONLY be done when you're ready to break an Elf Crossbow and/or improve everyone's crossbow skill.
Head south and fight the lone enemy in LaMut. DO NOT rush in, 3 against 1, and kill him.
You want him to attack one of you're troops until he gets tired and decides to flee. Be sure to check everyone's Defensive Skill box so the skill can increase as fast as possible. When the enemy flees, have Owyn cast Despair Thy Eyes and Invitation to keep him from escaping.
As Locklear will be leaving after Chapter 1, and will reappear in Chapter 5 to face some very touch combats, you'll want to get his Melee skill up first.
Melee increases when you hit someone, regardless of how much damage is inflicted. This is why you want Locklear and Gorath to have 2 weapons, a good weapon and a really horrible weapon. So unless you're in a difficult fight and need your best weapon, go ahead and use your worst weapon, so you can get as many hits as possible before the enemy dies. You can take it even further. When someone's health (not stamina) drops, their skills and their strength decreases, so your hits will not inflict as much damage as normal. So when someone gets hurt, think carefully about whether you want Owyn to cast a Gift of Sung spell. When Owyn gets the spell Grief of a thousand nights, he'll be able to freeze the enemy, so one of the troops can attack safely with no stamina and little health (19 or 29 points of health), and be able to inflicts lots of hits. But until then, you only have Dispel and Invitation to work with. So don't heal Locklear or Gorath with the Gift of Sung spell, everytime they get hit. You may want them to get hurt, so when the enemy flees, you can inflict more hits. Save the game before each combat, just incase. Also, you can damage their health before any combat by starving them. Just be sure to give them food BEFORE the combat starts.
Note: Only use the Thrust swing, as it has more accuracy and inflicts LESS damage.
Also you start with an 18% Standard Armor. You'll want to get this reduced to 10%, so give it to Locklear, and make sure the enemy attacks him, as 3-5 hits should bring it down to 10%. Once that happens, you'll use that down the road for Armorcraft skills, so don't use it in combat again. Go with your best armor and worst weapons unless it's a tough fight and/or you're outnumbered.
The second combat is in Zun and only has 2 enemies. Let Gorath and Locklear defend until each enemy flees. Use the Dispel spell on Gorath's opponent, as you want Locklear's guy to flee first (typically when their stamina gets low). Locklear can also kill the other guy, AFTER he starts to flee.
The next combat, just before Killian's Temple, has 3 enemy, and can be a difficult fight (3 on 3). They'll try to go after Owyn, so you will need to kill whoever goes after him. Again, keep trying to get Locklear and Gorath's Defensive skills up, and keep working on increasing Locklear's Melee skill.
REMEMBER not to repair Locklear and Gorath's poor weapons. As you don't have a hammer, use the enemy's if their armor is better.
The last combat is 2 enemies in Hawk's Hollow. This is an easy fight, so work on those defensive skills, and Locklear's melee.
Go to the Dimwood NW, use the Trap to max out Owyn's Casting skill.
Loot the Farrier chest for the Spell "Grief of a Thousand Nights". Go to the Dimwood South and grab the 8% Goblin Sticker in the stump. You shouldn't have any trouble avoiding combats in these areas.
Sell, buy, repair and sell 8% Goblin Sticker at Yabon. You'll get Locklear's and Gorath's Weaponcraft skills very high, and make around $10,000.
Now you can buy some Elf Armor, and then go to LaMut to get Elf crossbows, bowstrings, quarrels, aventurine.
Now you're adequately prepared to go North. Keep working on your skills, and be sure and break one of the Elf crossbows in the Trap/Sorcerer combat. I suggest that after reaching Loriel, you teleport to the Killian's Temple, head down to Sarth for spells, teleport from Sung to Loriel, head to Wolfram and buy weapons and armor at the Arms of Dala shop. Teleport at the Tith temple to Sung. Fight your way to Malac's Crossing, get the cheapest #3 Blessing in the game at the Chapel of Ishap, for your best armor and weapons. Also get your WORST weapons blessed, so their accuracy can be improved. Now you can teleport to the Temple of Killian, and go back to the Dimwood NW. Fight Ockie's 2 scorpians (endless combat ONLY in Chapter 1). Max out Locklear, Gorath, and Owyn's Melee skills. Max out Locklear and Gorath's defensive skills. Use the Brak Nurr combat in the Mac Mordain to max out Owyn's Defensive skills.
By this time your melee, defense, crossbow, and casting skills are maxed out or extremely high. Weaponcraft should also be high. You should have lots of money, the best weapons, the best armor, and you can also max out your Armorcraft skills at LaMut selling, buying, repairing, and selling that horrible 10% Armor you got at the start of the game.

I mean... a lot of that is really good advice, but, kinda super min/max and technical for what I assume is a "new" player to BAK.

I would suggest not highlighting more than 2 skills at a time. For Locklear & Gorath, it should be defense & melee accuracy. For Owyn, it initially should only be defense (until you hit Sarth & get Flamecast from Brother Marc). Then, it should be defense & spell accuracy.

I would suggest getting into as many combats as possible in Chapter 1, I typically circle the entire kingdom more than once before I even enter the sewers of Krondor. Do not upgrade your armor or weapons until you are comfortable with the game/combat. This may seem counter intuitive, but, your characters only improve defense skills when they take physical damage. Having super uber gear at the equivalent of "level 1" would make your characters trash by the end of the game.

You can exploit the combat system for some pretty glaring advantages if you want (or need to). For example, you can take 2 actions per turn with every character by using a mouse command & then holding down a keyboard command while they perform the action.

You can trap any opponent that has only 1 movement speed against the left side wall of the combat grid by having a character block them N, E, & NE. This allows you to heal fully at the end of any combat (useful for numerous reasons).

Very early on the game, try fighting 3 or less opponents whenever possible. You can always bookmark the game before combat & then attempt to gain a first strike round by clicking on them. If you fail to surprise them, reload the bookmark & try again. Once you're actually in combat, if you have 3 opponents or less, you can essentially stun lock all of them with Despair Thy Eyes, by rotating who you target. You cannot refresh the spell until the enemy has taken at least 1 action, so, figure out who is going to target Owyn & eliminate them ASAP.

PS - I would consider all what yellowhair said essential after you are comfortable with the game & want to really beef up your party, but, focus on the basics first. OH, also, if you want to make Owyn super crazy strong, make sure you get a spell that requires accuracy (Flamecast) and once you have mastered the basics of combat, start manipulating your last opponent with invitation & despair thy eyes. Whenever you get the chance, fire a flamecast with a strength of 1 resulting in 3 damage. My first time playing through I relied on Skyfire way too heavily and it made Owyn weak in the long run.

PPS - Getting "Fetters of Rime" is MUCH easier than acquiring Grief of 1000 Nights (imho), you simply have to travel a lot further East early on, then, you can come back for Grief later. Fetters requires line of sight & deals damage, so is less guaranteed than Grief, but again, much easier to acquire. Once you are able to start freezing 1 or more of your opponents and preventing them from harassing Owyn in combat, the game is much easier.