Knew this site and the posters here wouldn't let me down! Thanks for the GREAT help! And thanks for supporting me and understanding this game has a hard start! On other sites I would have just had half a dozen posts telling me what a wuss I was!
Will follow your advice and try again - this time with more success, I am sure. Modern games don't have you 'running away' as an option nowadays - once in combat you tend to have to stay in combat until you have won - or alternatively you always win because modern games don't test you - that is maybe why games from this era surprise you - like it surprised me!
Thanks again guys!