The Ages

[thejeff]

I'd poke around. Play all three.
Pick a nation that grabs your interest and try it in all 3 eras.
Start a lot of games and abandon them to try something else that seems cooler.

I think the differences between the ages are often exaggerated . There are a lot of potent mages even in the late age and while the early ages have less armor, there are still heavy units around and they tend to have stronger sacreds, so armies can't be ignored.

The biggest difference, and easiest to change, is probably the default magic site chance.