In my opinion, some games you simply need to start at a lower difficulty. I don’t think many people start playing X-COM on “Classic” difficulty. Also, FTL: Faster Than Light may be another example of this, if any of you have heard of this game (though FTL has a simple tutorial that lets you gain your bearings, and Battle Brothers just gives scenarios, then promptly drops you on your head).
Since I was more stubborn than a mule when I first started playing Battle Brothers, I did not ever start on Beginner, but instead had about 30 hours of death spiraling, as you mentioned above.
In short, once you learn how to play well, then I do not believe that Veteran is overwhelming so much as it is challenging.
I do believe that an actual tutorial should be added to the game though, hopefully with an option to enable/disable it.
"It is not death that a man should fear, but he should fear never beginning to live." ~Marcus Aurelius
Game: "Characters with a height advantage against their opponents are harder to hit"
Me: "That's not true, and my short axeman is living proof!"