In the mail...

Small World: Be Not Afraid: An add-on from Days of Wonder Games Magazine's Game of the Year, 2010. Be Not Afraid adds 5 new races (Barbarians, Homonculi, Leprechauns, Pixies, and Pygmies ... hmmm, one of these things is not like the other) and 5 new powers (Barricade, Catapult, Corrupt, Imperial, and Mercenary).  

Small World: Necromancer's Island: This a free, limited-edition scenario available to people who buy the base game from various retailers or the Days of Wonder web store during November and December 2010, while supplies last. One player becomes the Necromancer, who turns dead units into an army of Ghosts. This is sure to become a collectible, so keep an out for it.

Memoir 44: Winter Wars--The Ardennes Offensive: I already discussed it here. I'm planning to do a review of the base game, and then follow-up with a review of this add-on.

Halo: Reach: I didn't have any time to spend with it until this weekend. (I'm long past being excited about a new Halo game. A new Arkham Asylum or Bioshock or Civilization? Yes. A new Halo or Call of Duty? Eh, no. Been there, done that, passed the t-shirt on to my son.) It's exactly what we expected: a very polished, very good continuation without a whole lot of surprises. Multiplayer has gotten almost absurdly over-stuffed with modes and variations: there's about 4 or 5 games worth of content in there.The differences between this and previous Halo games are merely of degree, not of kind. It's an excellent game, and like StarCraft II, it sticks to the formula that made it huge.

MySims SkyHeroes: The most I could get out of Daughter was "It's fun and cool," which means nothing considering that 2 years ago Winnie the Pooh's Rumbly Tumbly Adventure was described that same way. I'll have to put some actual time in if I plan on covering it.  (IF....)

I'll write some more about the new Days of Wonder stuff as I get them to the game table this week.