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.

‘Combat Mission: Touch’ distills the essence of a fine wargame system into a highly playable portable format for iPad2

Sword of the Stars was a classic science fiction game; the same cannot be said for Sword of the Stars II: Lords of Winter.

‘Lost Reich’ offers satisfying tabletop science fiction wargaming at an incredible price in this print-your-own mech game set in an alternate future. Fascism strikes back – with mechs!

‘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.

‘Wings of Glory – War World II’ returns the ‘Wings of War’ system to game tables just when it seemed this popular, easy-to-play miniatures game had flown into the sunset. It has a new publisher but the same creative design team.

‘Star Trek Heroclix Tactics’ brings starship combat from the “Star Trek” universe to the popular Heroclix miniatures gaming system.

Sun of York is a fast-moving card game of the Wars of the Roses. Despite some obtuse rules, it is actually quite easy to play as either a two-person or solitaire game.

‘Wargame: European Escalation’ puts gamers into a NATO – Warsaw Pact clash in the 1970s – 1980s, with over 300 units and great graphics.

‘Axis & Allies Miniatures’ games take to the skies in ‘Air Force: Angel 20.’ Pilot skill, aircraft maneuverability and weaponry, cloud cover, flak barrages and night combat are all taken into account, but the rules maintain simplicity.

The PC game ‘Crusader Kings II’ is really in a league of its own in strategy games. Its focus on dynastic survival requires different thinking and strategy than most strategy PC games do.

‘Close Combat: Last Stand Arnhem’ is more of a sequel to rather than a remake of 1997′s classic ‘Close Combat: A Bridge Too Far.’ There are lots of new missions and options, gameplay’s still superb, but the graphics are showing their age.

‘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.

‘Operation Sealion,’ based on the hypothetical invasion of Britain by Nazi Germany in World War II, is the most challenging, innovative and enjoyable expansion so far in the ‘Battle Academy’ series.