Ah okay.  It's been about 5 years since I played a HoM&M game and they were never really my most replayed games so I may confuse a few details.

Which battle system did you like better:  HoM&M or Age of Wonders?

I haven't played Age of Wonders for awhile, but I would say I liked it better than Heroes of Might and Magic V's battle system....5 has me fairly disappointed---I just posted its pics since it's the newest.

Just not as much as Heroes of Might and Magic 3 & 4...but I don't know...it's a toss up. I suppose in some ways the Age of Wonders battle system is better, but it's the world map and castle development that I loved so much in Heroes of M&M.

I'll have to play Age of Wonders again....lol, I still have the icon for it on my desktop (have to find the cd)...it's just been awhile.

Too many damn games to play...

To me it's more in the Strategy War series like Romance of the Three Kingdoms then it is in the Strategy RPG category.

Age of Wonders isn't real time?

Nope. 

HoM&M and Age of Wonders are both TBS games.  You move your troops, manage your "castles," and then click the End Turn button.

do you class Shining Force 2 as a SRPG I mean its not like Fire Emblem where u are told where to go u kinda have free range to a degree.

I know Shining Force 1 was Fire Emblem ish.

that said Fire Emblem and Shining Force franchises are my 2 favourites.

I just wish Sega would make a sequel I mean how long ago was the last one well there was a 3rd one for the Dreamcast but did that see its way outside of Japan?