I'm craving a strategy game and can not decide between Master of Magic and Total Annihilation. Which one should I get?

Total Annihilation

To be fair, I haven't played Master of Magic, but I have played a great number of strategy games and Total Annihilation is among the very best of those.

I too would have to cast my vote for Total Annihilation. Though ive never played Master of Magic, TA is a top 10 pick of mine and was the first game i bought from GoG.

Just to add my voice to Total Annihalation. It's one of the "most content for your 6$" games you can get here.
You have the original campaign, Core contingency and Battle tactics. That's a lot of missions not even counting skirmish mode.

Or the never ending supply of mods that a surprisingly active modding community is still making. In my opinion TA is a excellent example of how a fan base and keep a great old game going strong well after the general media and public have forgotten it.

Thanks, looks like I'm getting Total Annihilation =)

Well, I'm the opposite of the preceding posters in that I recently purchased MoM, but have yet to play TA. Obviously, I can't compare the two and give an opinion of which is better. But I can provide you on some feedback for MoM.

Overall gameplay: 4 out of 5. The strategy elements in the game aren't the deepest. You have plenty of guns/butter decisions to make. But, frankly, these decisions aren't particularly punishing. Having said that, there is something addictive in the gameplay. The learning curve is quite easy (which is a plus for old fogeys like me). And it certainly possesses the 'one more turn' factor. Whether it's watching a city's population grow, or a hero advance in level, or the acquisition of a new spell, there is something worthwhile transpiring with nearly each and every turn. And that's when you're playing as passively as possible! At the end of the day, the game is simply fun and I can sit down to it and kill an hour without realizing the time has passed.

Replayability: 5 out of 5. The level of customization that you can perform with your starting wizard, five difficulty settings, the fact that a new map is generated with each game, along with the random events that will occur in the course of a game ensure that you won't play the same game twice.

The graphics look dated even for the period in which this game was new. But the the midi soundtrack is fairly decent (predictably redundant as it is). So, from a cosmetic standpoint, I'm sure there are far better games to be had. However, if these things are secondary in consideration, then I think you'll find good value for money from MoM. Even if you decide to go with TA, you should consider wishlisting MoM for future purchase.