LAN to WAN Games

Good morning all,

Here is what we are trying to do. Play Age of Kings from my network to either the Zone or another friends PC.

My setup:

5 PC lan with:
4 Win98SE Pc's 10/100 NICS
1 Win2K Pro PC 10/100 NIC
1 HP 28688B EtherTwist PLus Hub
1 Linksys 1-port router
1 3-Com Cable Modem

Friend has:

2 PC lan with:
1 Win2K Pro PC 10/100 NIC
1 WIn2K Pro Server PC 10/100 NIC
1 Linksys 4-port router
1 3-Com Cable Modem

Both on @Home cable service

Problem is when I try to use 2 PC's here, he gets dropped before the game starts. Doing directplay or on the Zone, the same.

First of all, this IS possible, isn't it?
We have opened the suggested ports on the routers and used DMZ, but no go.

Any suggestions?

Thanks for your help.

Charlie