I know... opinions and all, but I gotta ask.

Shadow Magic.
Campaign is less interesting than the one in AOW 1, and it lacks a campaign editor.
But combat is faster and more fun than in AOW 1 since it skips the positioning phase. The AI is also much better, but still rather weak.
I also prefer the wizard domains mechanics of SM to the godlike hero stomping out all opposition of AOW 1.

I can't really say much since I only have AoW 1. But I think the majority thinks AoW 1 is the better one.

I wonder if the majority plays multi player? In multi player weak AI and combat positioning doesn't matter much. Personally I mainly play single player, and I think Shadow Magic is superior for that.

I play both single and multiplayer age of wonders 1

The first one is my favourite. SM is good, but it has a lot of weird scaling issues and stretched UI elements, so ironically it looks older and more out of date. Plus AoW1 has the better campaign/vanilla maps. Though SM apparently has the bigger multiplayer community, and some really good mods.

Get both!

I have Shadow Magic, seems decent enough in the current MP game I'm playing. Having seen the series go on sale here, I'm thinking of picking up the first as well...

I can't speak to the multiplayer experience, but for the single-player campaign experience my favorite was AoW2 (Wizard's Throne, not Shadow Magic). I felt the mechanics and overall balance was superior in AoW2 compared to AoW1. In comparing Wizard's Throne with Shadow Magic, although Shadow Magic added some nice things in terms of mechanics, units, and races, I found the overall campaign experience to be more enjoyable in Wizard's Throne. There's quite a bit more to the campaign in Wizard's Throne and I felt that the pacing was also better. I also think that the Shadow Magic campaign was marred by a few brutally difficult maps; I'm fine with being challenged, but there were some missions that seemed pretty much impossible unless you already played and failed at them once, so you knew the map layout and what scripted events to expect. That just struck me as poor design that detracted quite a bit from the experience.

Either AoW 1 or Shadow Magic. Both are good in their own ways so it's hard to choose. Personally I prefer SM because of the map generator, but I'd say get both if you can.

Wizard's Throne is fairly skippable.

I prefer AoW 1 by a wide margin.
First of the graphics. AoW 1 has a more hand drawn charm to it, which has aged incredibly well. AoW 2-3 are not bad looking games, but they lack the charm.
Story wise none of the games are great, but AoW 1 offers some backstory for each unit type (which you can find under each units description), which is quite entertaining to read, and adds quite a lot to the games setting.
The campaign in AoW 1 feels more alive somehow. The missions are more interesting and feel better balanced.
AoW 1's heroes are far more customization, you have a lot of options when leveling up (though be warned that it is also possible to create totally broken combinations, which is a big disadvantage for the game in multiplayer)
And the sides feel more distinct. While every army has an archer, a basic swordsman and a battering ram (of some kind, one side has elephants which are useful for more than just breaking down buildings), the later units has quite a lot of flavour to them. I never felt that the later games had nearly as distinct sides.

My fav is AoW 1.
It's simple, I can't play both Wizard coast and Shadow Magic cause the graphics are terrible, terrible, I'm talking about the design mainly.
For example, AoW 1 main menu is so... so sexy... it's like you just see it, you wana play.

Not to mention the awesomeness of Michiel Van Den Bos music for AoW 1.

The only thing im not sure AoW 1 is better at is about balance. But well... im not really playing it for its balance.

AoW1 AI is so goddamned awful that I didn't even manage to go beyond my first battle last time that I installed from my original GoD CD + patch as the AI unit did nothing but run around in circles just out of my range with NO way to corner it, so I just cut my losses and uninstalled.

Granted it was probably a 50-50 type of circular encounter on start but it pissed me off so much that I decided that even though I liked the game and mechanics that such crap wasn't worth putting up with especially as I didn't recall such cheapness when I pre-ordered and played the game originally.

Still, I decided to bite and buy all three in this weekend's sale, so since I NEVER purchased the follow ons before maybe that same cheapness happened to me in my AoW1 game originally and I just wrote it off and forgot about it... kind of like Cossacks(yet another game with godawful AI)...

Thinking about these godawful AI strategy games ALMOST makes me want to WAY WAY WAY OVERPAY for yet another slightly updated copy of Harpoon... NOT! (Matrixgames needs to get a handle on their asking prices ffs! Especially that frog's fantasy wargame!).

You're wrong.

I perfectly know what you're pinpointing and it is not awful.


When you're attacking the AI, they are waiting for you to come into their range. They want to initiate and they are doing whatever it takes to initiate.

I don't see anything wrong about that.

Aye, poor AI would have been if the AI just rushed ahead, even if that would have resulted in it getting slaughtered. The AI is still not perfect, but it is at least programmed to not be suicidal.

So the AI is bad because they... Try to stay out of your range? That's not bad, that's just good sense. Stay back and force the enemy to enter your attack range first, thus giving you the chance to draw the first blood and seize the initiative (which is exactly what they do once you get close enough).