Bumping this because I think I'm getting something similar.
I can't finish the tutorial. Sometimes it runs slower than it should but still runs, and then runs smoothly for a bit, and then crashes with a similar message to yours.
I'm on Windows 8. I assumed XP Compatibility Mode and run as administrator would be the best bet.
The only thing I found that looks similar to this is here:
http://www.gog.com/forum/spellforce_platinum/game_freezes I've never toggled SLI before and I don't know how. I could Google, but I'm actually about to leave so not now. If that works for anyone, let me know. If it involves obnoxious restarts and changes that you'll just have to revert for better performance in other programs, then a better solution would be nice. I'm not really good with this stuff.
EDIT: I unchecked compatibility mode and it doesn't seem to be crashing for me now. Don't know if it's a coincidence.