I actually lost in the first battle in the campaign. The complete lack of micro-management really bothers me.
 Maybe it's different if you got upgrades before that though.
 
Oh, and I'm playing on Brutal in case you're wondering.

I had a really hard time on the last battle, but I can contribute that more towards user error than the game itself.

I had quite a bit of trouble with the stage battles.

be that as it may, with all the press coverage and internet chatter around this game it would be a miracle if something saved it from being a commercial failure.

I'm playing on Brutal and only got the game yesterday, I didn't lose a battle up until Lionwhyte, and now i'm stuck, Anybody know any tactics?

I'm pretty bad at RTS games and had little to no trouble on Normal save for when I made devastating tactical errors coupled with the total lack of micro that the game offers.
 
Trying to replay on brutal and I got up to the dry ice mines before getting stuck.

A great thing about the story battles is that you can use upgrades you have for your axe, guitar, and vehicle.  The vehicle is handy early on because you can kill a good number of lowly enemies with it while your troops kill leeches.  The game was really easy on Normal.  I'll try Brütal after I get 100%.

People ask for originality in games and when they're given it, they complain. That's why a small circle of people whine about Brutal Legend.

I dunno, even on Brutal (Started here on my first play-through), I find that if you try to split groups and micromanage, you're bound to fail. I've just been trying to create a sort of front, where I control all of the geysers on one tier, and then move on to the next. This mainly entails creating the right grouping of units, and sending them all to the objective.

" People ask for originality in games and when they're given it, they complain. That's why a small circle of people whine about Brutal Legend. "

This game was not hard on Brutal, the only time I felt remotely challenged was during the last stage battle.

Beating it on Brutal wasn't that bad. I messed up a number of times on stage battles but most of the time I could see what I needed to differently. Once I had a set in stone strategy I was fine. 

" People ask for originality in games and when they're given it, they complain. That's why a small circle of people whine about Brutal Legend. "

It really shouldn't be played as an RTS.  After reading Schafer's article (and at first cursing it as a lern2ply noobs ploy), I realized his points were precisely right.  I took his advice; carried my team's rally flag around, made quick tactical decisions that didn't take me out of the battle, never neglected my solos, and spammed double team attacks like there was no tomorrow.  And guess what?  I'm undefeated in the last five games I've played against human opponents.  It definitely is good fun when you know what you're doing. 
The only problem I personally have is that the game rarely does a good job telling you how to play well on its own.  Indeed, it resembles an RTS more than anything when Stage Battles first appear, and it since the game doesn't explicitly tell you how to succeed in these situations, people play it as they see it.  That is often to play it like an RTS, leading to failure, frustration, and doubt with the game's systems. 
You shouldn't have to be told outside of the game how to play the game.