The first expansion set for ‘Command and Colors Napoleonics’ is the Spanish Army. Almost as big as the original game, there’s not much to complain about in this expansion – but it is still the Peninsula War.

‘Warlords of Europe’ is a strategic board game covering 13th-century Western Europe, with plastic playing pieces and a clever mechanism for handling the Church’s moral authority.

‘Guns of August’ is a good game based on the opening weeks of World War I, but it needed more rules editing and better quality control on the map printing.

‘Whistling Death: WWII Air Warfare Over the Pacific, 1941 – 1945′ is an expansion for J.D. Webster’s ‘Fighting Wings,’ a highly detailed boardgame series. ‘Whistling Death’ comes with counters and data for over 40 types of aircraft and ships.

The block game ‘Julius Caesar: Caesar, Pompey, and the Roman Civil War, 49 – 30 BC,’ is simple, but challenging: easy to learn, a challenge to master. Enemy units’ identities are hidden till combat is joined, and cards represent the influence of the Roman gods.

The second edition of ‘Mark H. Walker’s Lock ‘n Load: Forgotten Heroes–Vietnam’ updates a classic boardgame that is great for solitaire, 2-player or even multi-player games.

The short rules may make it look like a “beer and pretzels” game but Incredible Courage at Austerlitz – Telnitz is anything but.

Nightfighter is a masterpiece of aviation wargames, in which players hunt for bombers to shoot down in the darkness over Europe and the Pacific.

With Sekigahara The Unification of Japan, GMT Games has continued their tradition of releasing top-notch war games featuring daring, trend-setting designs.

Gears of War is a hugely popular console game, and its rendering as a boardgame has been faithfully implemented. But is that enough?

The boardgame “Buffalo Wings – WW2 Tactical Air Combat Over Finland” is a simplified version of the old “Fighting Wings” series but is still geared toward players who prefer detail over simplicity in aerial combat games.

Two stories related to WW II made recent news. A Holocaust museum’s collection includes anti-Semitic boardgames and children’s books that give insight into 1930s Germany. And a 4,000-lb RAF bomb forced an evacuation in Koblenz, Germany.

‘Tank on Tank’ is a quick-playing, easy-to-learn boardgame in which the number of actions a player may perform in a given turn is concealed by the fog of war.

Armchair General’s 2011 list of recommended games, books and DVDs.

Board-based wargames range from historical to science fiction and fantasy. These recommendations from Armchair General run the gamut.

Hasbro’s new Risk is truly a NEW version that not only redefines the Risk game but upends boardgame conventions unlike anything that’s come before it.