So, I started playing my first EVER MM game. MM 6. It's a great little old school game but I am having a VERY rough time staying alive. I usually miss when I attacked (A key) and then sometime I kill stuff when I cast a flame arrow or something.

Overall, even the first abandoned temple quest, I get overwhelmed by 6+ enemies! I don't understand why there are HUGE packs of enemies in the first 5 minutes of the game.

Am I missing something>

At low levels, Bless is very useful spell. It increases your chance to hit. You might also want to choose type of weapon for each char, and invest some skill points there to increase chance to hit and get other bonuses. You can always attack by clicking on mob (which makes it much easier to focus down one particular mob/runner). One of fountains in New Sorpigal also boosts your Might by 10, which can also help you before going to dungeon. I would say that Goblinwatch is more like beginners' dungeon. Make sure you clear New Sorpigal first (it has around 14 chests with valuables and 1 hidden chest which looks like rock). Don't stand in melee range of mobs for too long when you are low level. Unload all you can on Goblin Kings, King/Queen Cobras, Giant Rats and Huge Spiders before they come even close.

You could also visit Castle Ironfist and mess around there a bit, teaching everyone to use bows and such. Misty Islands is another low-level friendly area - you can reach it by boat either from New Sorpigal or Castle Ironfist.

In general you will want to avoid getting stuck amidst 6+ mobs at low levels... Until you get some real nukes. Abandoned Temple has infamous Cobra Pit, don't rush there, use Wizard Eye spell and slowly approach it, slowly turn around - if done right, only 2-3 cobras will come to you at a time. Remember, you can always retreat and shoot some mobs from afar.

Wizard Eye is also useful from the get go. As you approach the enemies, you can see which are re-acting to your presence--- usually just the first couple of the enemy group. Stop and let them come to you. As always, range weapons. Flame Arrow sucks. Close quarters-- Sparks. Distance. Fire Bolt (or the water equivalent which I think is ice bolt.) These are the first decent spells. Try all the wells in the first town. Actually the entire game. Some are good; some less so. But you take your chances. If you get a large group interested in you, keeping them at range by moving back a few "yards" is useful. There is a group of goblins by a bridge that come in a bunch. I've back-up most of the distance of the Village shooting and keeping distance.

Hope this helps.
(Edit for Spelling)

Also, try turn based combat if you aren't already. Press Enter whenever you see enemies (I have it mapped to my mouse thumb button too), and then concentrate on them one at a time like Sarisio wrote by clicking on particular ones instead of pressing A.