I have never played Tactics Ogre before and having just read the manual I can tell there is gonna be some cool secret characters, strategies, items, etc that I will probably miss. Any tips to help this first-timer?

I played over 100 hours and I ended up stuck at a point.

-Make sure you have guys that will counteract all the times the enemy will try to paralyze and slow you down. They do that a lot.

-Have your archers know the trajectory skill. It will help avoid embarrassing missed shots.

-If you want to save unique characters you'll have to be prepared to rush the bad guys sometimes. CPU allies are dumb as rocks and do crazy things.

The game gets rough sometimes but the story is so good that it is worth it. Now I want to jump back in!

I got royally frustrated just trying to build my team at the start, i know hand holding is frowned upon but this game didnt explain any of this stuff and its just criminal.

First, become familiar with the auto-training thing where you can just let the CPU control your guys in mock battles. Second, get ninjas and equip them with the Incubus spell. Third, fuck shit up.

Thanks for the tips! If anyone still has tips to give, have at it!

The winged dude... forgot his name, he is by far your strongest character for a while.  Give him a bow and keep him alive.
 
Tame a dragon or two, they make awesome tanks.

Archers are really useful. You'll want to have a few strong ones around most of the time.

@kuz101: Kinda glad you started this since I'm about start the game myself soon. Nice to have knowledge going in.