head to head
vs
Age of WondersvsEmpire: Total War
Age of Wonders leans Optimization (Pure Optimization); Empire: Total War leans Optimization (Pure Optimization).
Age of WondersEmpire: Total War
Axis by axis
Execution1 vs 2
Empire: Total War leans harder on execution: Real-time battle micro is modest
Reads3 vs 3
Even - both lean on reads about the same.
Variance3 vs 3
Even - both lean on variance about the same.
Optimization9 vs 8
Age of Wonders leans harder on optimization: Economy, stack-building and terrain tactics are the whole game
Two games can score the same on an axis and still test it in very different ways - read each rationale, not just the number.