head to head
vs
Age of Empires II: HD EditionvsThe Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth II
Age of Empires II: HD Edition leans Optimization (Pure Optimization); The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth II leans Optimization (Practiced Mastery).
Age of Empires II: HD EditionThe Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth II
Axis by axis
Execution5 vs 5
Even - both lean on execution about the same.
Reads4 vs 5
The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth II leans harder on reads: Human opponents in skirmish reward prediction
Variance2 vs 2
Even - both lean on variance about the same.
Optimization9 vs 7
Age of Empires II: HD Edition leans harder on optimization: build orders and economy are near-solvable
Two games can score the same on an axis and still test it in very different ways - read each rationale, not just the number.