want to buy. wait or buy later?

There is no reason to buy War of Magic.  The game isn't very good due to many poor design choices, bugs, blandness, lack of balance, and lack of content.  Fallen Enchantress is a stand alone game, all of the features and changes that the Devs have posted about FE have been vast improvements.  I would wait until Fallen Enchantress comes out and reviews come out for it.

I'd say waiting for Fallen Enchantress is your best bet. You are too late to get FE free with a purchase of War of Magic, but you would get it heavily discounted, so if you want something to play now then you could get WoM at little penalty. FE is a substantial upgrade but WoM is getting some upgrades which have not been added to FE. Nothing really huge, though. The two don't interact as far as everything I've seen, and I really doubt that they will have any reason to do so.

I'd wait for FE right now, to be honest. While E:wom has come a long way, there are still certain issues that makes it less than a top-notch game.

They haven't released any precise information about the discount on FE if you buy E:wom now, so that's a wildcard.

WoM isn't very fun. FE has approximately a 100% chance of being better then WoM. Wait for FE.

go with this advise

ok thanks.  I was trying to find more information on the discount but failed.  I am bummed its not up to par yet.  I did check out dominions 3, its like 55.00 bucks!  And its 5 years old...crazy huh?  

Know whats really crazy?  It's still worth every penny.  Yes, I am saying that Dom3 is still worth $55 and this game is not worth buying.

This is an weird place to be in.  I want to play a new game, I want it to be WOM and now I have no idea what is going on if I do buy it.  I originally waited since it was so buggy and I wasn't really able to give anything time.  No one has ANY idea on the discount?  Is the game that broken?  I have played Dwarf Fortress and that thing isn't even close to 1.0... 

Marketing people/ sales people for WOM help!  What will the discount be?  Give me a guess!

With the killer sales Steam has been having all week, you're really better off getting something from there until FE comes out, then coming back. Honestly there isn't a good reason to spend money on WoM.

It's not really "broken" anymore, it's just bland and not interesting.

http://www.impulsedriven.com/aowsm

9.99 for an oldie but its supposed to be really good right?  Any other suggestions to tide me over till FE?

The Kohan series is really good.  I saw the warchest on sale at direct2drive for today.  Still has an active multiplayer community as well (although Kohan 2 has been a bit slow of late, I hear the first is still going strong).

You can try the Dominions 3 demo since you seem doubtful about it.
http://www.shrapnelgames.com/Illwinter/DOM3/DOM3_page.html

Give Master of Magic a whirl if you haven't tried it. Like $5 over at GOG. Worth every penny.

AoW:SM, since you brought it up, is a better successor to Master of Magic than WoM is right now (or as the base game will every be, to be frank). I'd suggest picking it up.

Master of Magic itself is still a great game, but the AI shows its age.

Oh, and before I forget, Dom 3 is indeed worth every penny.

Here is the recipe to the best fantasy game experience there is:

1. Purchase Age of Wonders Shadow Magic (yeah, its nearly 10 years old)

2. Go to Age of Wonders II Heaven and download patches 1.3, 1.4, and the new 1.5 MP Evolution (makes the game perform better on high end systems)

3. Install these patches. Remove the official Shadow Magic icon from the desktop - you'll only be playing MP Evolution anyway.

4. Download either Dwiggs 5.0 mod or Brave New World from the same site (read the instructions - especially for BNW. There are three or four files that need to be downloaded and installed for this mod).

5. Install these mods.

6. Copy the mods from Program Files (x86)\Age of Wonders Shadow Magic\User\Resources and paste them inProgram Files (x86)\Age of Wonders Shadow Magic\MP Evolution.

7. Run 'AoW - MP Evolution settings' from the desktop. Pick the settings you want for your system but for Version choose either Dwiggs or Brave New World.

8. Run AoW MP Evolution and play an extra large random map.

9. There's your weekend done and dusted.

The download versions of Age of Wonders are all fully patched, so 1.3 is not needed (and UPatch 1.4 includes it).

And it is worth buying the trilogy pack, even if it is just to play the campaigns of the earlier versions.

Age of Wonders is very good game.. Dominions 3 - this game is average. I dont feel this game ;/ 

BTW. Elemental is a good game! I like it.

age of wonder shadow magic is well supported; visit heavenly game site for user add on content if you go that route.  No comment on the other stuff mentioned in this thread.

This. As a fantasy strategy game fan I have to say Kohan is one of my favourite games of all time. It is a real time game but in many ways plays like a turn based strategy in that you try to keep your troops alive (they will gain experience and heal their damage if you do) and troop composition, positioning, outposts, etc all matter.

Otherwise Age of Wonders: Shadow Magic is my pick as the best successor to date to Master of Magic. I live in hope of FE taking the crown but we will just have to see.

I personally think that MoM has no successor yet, because I considered AoW to be a less than superb game. To be honest, the closest thing to a true MoM successor is Fall From Heaven 2 which is a mod for Civ 4 - it is a much better game than E:WoM. I would pay 40 -50 bucks for it, but it is free!

Yeah, I always thought the city management was unacceptably light, the tactical pacing was a little slow / off for me, and I've never liked underground layers (far different from Myrror) for reasons I've stated elsewhere (with an addition here).  That said, Shadow Magic seemed much closer than the previous versions - it might have been as simple as the guardians for the resources and the mysterious new faction, but it 'felt' a lot better to me.

Same question.  I want to buy this game, should I wait still or does 1.3 tip the scales?  

Nope, it doesn't. Wait for FE.

Some new things are interesting, like an event system and minimim 4 men per human units. Others make the game worse, like new limits on basic buildings and healthpoint making every unit a glasscannon.

Wait for FE, WOM is now just boring, there is no magic to it, has about as much flavor as plan white bread.