Which race do you prefer to play as in any of the AoW games?

Hard to tell. I'll have to think about it.

Haven't played many AOW1 games. In AOW2 on here it doesn't matter, since you don't choose your race on the games they host here.

For AoW2:SM, I'm partial to the Dark Elves myself. Love those Bladedancers (favourite lvl 2 unit, especially when buffed with Dark Gift), Shades and Spider Queens. And the Giant Spiders are the best of the summoned critters at their level. Not a big fan of their lvl 4 unit; all kinds off possess and dominate abilities tend to break the game, so I never produce them.

Orc are my second favourites. Abominations, Shamans and Warlocks work well together The two first are especially useful on maps with lots of forest. And Doom Bats are nifty too.
Their level 4 unit reminds me of Gabe Newell.

I find Dark Elves the most fascinating, but in pratice I always end up converting most of my cities to humans and draconians for neutral alignment and knights/flyers/dragons.

Least favourite: dwarves and halflings, I just can't stand them. But that's not specific to AoW, just my general preference in fantasy races. :)

i like playing as the frostlings

Cold strike is very good throughout the game, I think, against the AI. There are always units that end up frozen and they don't always get 3 attacks. A stack of Yeti and witches is a nice combination because they also have the regeneration ability which means that they don't lose time healing and you can continue exploring. Add Mammoths to the mix and you're able to grab more cities.

One thing I was missing though was Leadership ability, but you can probably buy a few units with that ability from huts but you won't get many of them.

I think I prefer Frostlings too, but not just because of their units, but because this game is very time consuming and it's much nicer to have a lighter map. Otherwise I really like the Dark Elf Shades or Syron Astral Sprites. They simply never die.

I love the shadow race but that's due to my preference for dark creature

my second favourite is dark elves and elves due to my love for elven races.

I love the shadow race for both their superstrong top units and the music, which sets a great eerie mood. Also their brain unit extends your wizard's spell reach nicely.

I'm also a big fan of orcs for their native regen ability when you build the structure allowing it (it's been a while since I've played, so I can't name it offhand). The orc version of the knight becomes very powerful with this, and it's inexpensive and fast. The doombats are incredibly powerful against almost anything but archery. I've had one or two wipe out strong groups all by themselves, countless times, thereby leveling up and becoming even stronger. And of course orcs always have so much personality.

I love the halflings, i can't really tell why but they are by far the race i find most success with, ponyriders are just so fast to get, and just so very useful in so many ways, in aow1 i really loved those assassins, but they aren't as great in aow2

Hands down, the Orcs! An army of doom bats might be tougher to beat on a per dollar basis than any other units in the game. They are especially great against evil races since Black bolts do not work against them. They will destroy any non-flying unit and suck away their life while doing it. (Undead do not need to fear them though as there is no life to steal!)

We're finishing up a random map now and the doom bats are what made the difference. The map was too difficult to walk across, but flight meant less units (resources) were stuck in transit between the factories (cities) and the front lines. And with flight, you can always 'hide' over water or mountains if the enemy puts together a strong force.

AOW:TWT and AOW:SM, most definitely Dwarfs. Why? I don't know, maybe because my strategy is the "The Best Offence is the Best Defence". Also, runemasters.

My favorite race would be the Frostlings. Really enjoy the whole Ice-thing they got going. Also, due to their neutrality, you can get both good & evil aligned races into your empire. Also a plus, creatures with flight are much easier to handle as Frostling, as frozen units land on the ground.

Second favorite race is merely due to one unit they got, the Orc Warlord, enjoy how he looks and the powerful roundbased attack, can wipe out armies with it. Usually try to get at least one Orc city in every game I play, simply for this.

IIRC Frostlings were one of the best races in AOW1, but not so good in SM. Still. those little lvl 1 guys with the ranged frost attacks could be annoying.