To start things off, lets recite the oath: In brightest day, in blackest night… Yup, the first hardcover collection of the New 52 Green Lantern comes out Wednesday. Easily one of the best ongoing series of the relaunch, Green Lantern has focused more on Sinestro than regular protagonist Hal Jordan, which has enlivened the book. And the reason for the shift in hero is due to Sinestro being allowed to wield the ring again, while Hal cools his jets on Earth. Until, that is, Sinestro comes a’knockin’. Geoff Johns has been writing some of the best Green Lantern stories ever since he got on the book around eight years ago, but this new volume offers a perfect jumping on point for anyone who’s wanted to read up on the character.

Keeping the superhero/comic base at a boil, but mixing in a smidge of gaming, next up is the second volume of Mutants and Masterminds DC Adventures: Heroes & Villains. As the first volume contained all characters ranging from A to K, this second edition picks up with L and runs it all the way to Z. That means you’re going to get classic characters like Lex Luthor, Superman, and Plastic Man, plus icon teams like the Justice League and the Secret Six. Offering gamers a shortcut into the DC Universe, these volumes contain all the stats, histories, and information you’ll need to BAM BIFF POW your way through the DCU.

Re-releasing in a new swanky graphic novel collection is BOOM Studio‘s 7 Psychopaths. A greater hook has never been created: what do you do when you want to kill Hitler and end WWII? Send in seven of the worst human beings ever to hunt down and murder the bastich. Of course, not everything always goes as planned. A grim, gritty spy series with artwork from exceptional Criminal and Incognito artist, Sean Phillips, 7 Psychopaths makes for a great, moody read.

As deck building games boldly go where no game has gone before they reach the Star Trek the Next Generation game. Using the base premise of deck building developed in games like Ascension, Dominion, and Resident Evil, Star Trek puts players into the role of a star ship captain, commanding their meager crew toward victory. Do you recruit further crewmen? Develop your ship’s equipment? Conquer worlds or make peace with them? These are the choices you will need to make in either the base version of the game or its Next Phase expansion. Both are stand alone and both go boldly yadda yadda blah blah.

Texas: It's like a whole other country... full of zombies.

Now they must survive a multitude of horrors and abominations with only one overwhelming desire – to make the students join them. Permanently.

A new two player head-to-head card game has mosied into town, pards. This here game goes by the name’a Revolver. A simple game for a simpler time, Revolver has players choosing sides between lawmen and outlaws. Both sides receive different cards and victory goals, so choose wisely. And be quick on the draw!

If cowboys aren’t your bag, then maybe archaeologists are. Lost Temple barrows the style and thematic elements of games like Lost Cities and Jambo for a kid friendly board game that plays two to eight people. Each explorer has the goal of reaching the sacred temple before anyone else, conferring with natives and backstabbing their opponents along the way. With famous game creator Bruno Faidutti (Citadels, Key Largo) behind the game, you can bet it’ll be a good time.

If you’re into exploring the undiscovered and enjoy the ancient nerd past time known as Dungeons and Dragons, you might find some joy in the newest Survival Handbook for 4.0, Into the Unkown. A hardcover volume full of information helpful to both game masters and players in building or navigating the dark reaches of a fantasy horror-based dungeon. Along with the normal inclusion of new feats, equipment, powers, and such, this volume also introduces the kobold and goblin as player races. Grab a flashlight and get exploring!

If you had not previously invested in the A Song of Ice and Fire, now is the time too! The new A Game of Thrones edition of the core rulebook includes all the information present in the previous volume, excepted update through magical means…called editors. But that’s not all, the entire Peril at King’s Landing is also included.

Battletech is probably one of the most asked about miniature games I’ve ever encountered up at the store, so it gives me great pleasure to say that a new Battletech Introductory Box Set is currently in the store. This new box set comes with 26 miniatures, a rulebook, a booklet of record sheets, a longer 80-page rulebook, and every other notable element players will require to jump head first into robot mayhem.

In other words: BIG FREAKIN’ ROBOTS! PICK IT UP!

Seems like I’ve been waiting for that movie come out my whole life, but no matter how close it gets it still feels too far away. Luckily, Wizkids a new set of Avengers Heroclix to tide me and everyone else over. Just like they have done with Green Lantern, Lord of the Rings, and Star Trek, The Avengers set is out in a base starter set (containing six of the core team) and individual booster boxes. All of these figures can be simply collected or you can play them as a miniature battle game. The starter set even comes with maps and rules to complete the gaming experience. With sixteen figures to collect overall, you better start now to assemble all The Avengers.

Following last week’s Fantasy Flight Lord of the Rings and Star Wars card sleeves, this week’s new set of sleeves depict another popular Sci-Fi/Fantasy franchise: Game of Thrones. Both sleeve types come with fifty sleeves, one displaying John Snow, the other Melisandre.

Or if you’re not into George R.R. Martin‘s fantasy series, there are new sleeves depicting Cthulhu, DungeonQuest imagery, and artwork from the popular co-op board game, Red November. All of these sleeves are standard sized, designed to fit most common CCGs, LCGs, and basic card game cards.

Popular game designer Reiner Knizia has created a slew of fantastic board games, such as Lost Cities, but his newest game is the Black Sheep of the bunch. A great, easy to learn card-based game intended for the whole family, Black Sheep has players collecting sets of animal cards, trying for better combinations than their opponents, and corralling them in their pens. Ah, but the black sheep is ready at every turn to ruin your hand. In line with family games like Zoolerreto, Black Sheep is a perfect edition for game night.

STAR WARS CARD SLEEVES!!!!!

Yes, hum the theme song in your head if you must. Fantasy Flight has released an exceptional limited run of specialty Star Wars backed card sleeves. So, play Magic with the man who shot first or catch’em all with Lord Vader or throw them on any other card game that needs some sci-fi spice. But whatever you do, pick them up before an X-Wing comes along and vaporizes them because there will not be any prequels here.

Of course, if space battles and laser swords aren’t your thing, maybe the other limited edition Lord of the Rings sleeves will be. Slip them over your favorite standard sized cards to give them a Samwise Gamgee to their Frodo Baggins. Or grasp the One Ring to rule all other swag-less individuals. Whatever you choose, wield them responsibly.

You want to kick your Warhammer Fantasy RPG game up to level 4? How about level 5? Then let Hero’s Call be Fantasy’s version of the Spinal Tap speaker! Chocked full of new hero and GM options for careers, action cards, talents, spells, and region options, this player’s resource is loaded with must-have ingredients for kicking your game up a couple levels.

Bringing Cthulhu to the deck-building party, Penny Arcade: Rumble in R’Lyeh is both a standalone game and an expansion for last year’s Penny Arcade: The Game, Gamers vs. Evil! So, players can enjoy Eldar God gaming goodness in the base 2-4 player version of the game or combine it with the previous game for excessive nerd overload. Rumble in R’Lyeh specifically adds Gold cards to the gameplay, which must be acquired through the use of Token and Power cards. Totally worth it when they have names like Gunhorse (a horse made of guns, duh!), Sad Zombie, and Gabe’s Gross Mouth.

Bridging books and board games, the Where the Wild Things Are board game from the Tales to Play series, lets families take control of Max’s journey to the land of the Wild Things. Each player controls a different Max miniature game piece on his trek through the becoming king of the Wild Things. Players draw cards and roll dice to decide their success or failure across the illustrated game board. Great gameplay and Wild Thing miniatures for the whole family.

Gamers have been waiting for this next exapnsion since somewhere around the dawn of man. Yes,  has finally arrived. Adding not only a fifth player ability to the game, but a new item dubbed decoration. Players may now trade their resources for this item in an effort to gain further points. Club someone if you have too, fight a t-rex, do whatever you have to for a copy of this valued expansion.

The only prescription for Horse Fever is actually fixing races, buying off jockeys, and borrowing money from the mob. Or, at least, that’s the case in the new game…Chicken Pox…okay, no, it’s called Horse Fever. Players control gamblers looking to get rich of each race in three different formats of play. These play levels, set-up as easy, medium, and hard, are a board game version, a family game version, and a party game version of base play. So, you can get into the game however you choose, then work up to a higher level of difficulty as you go along.

Expanding upon the base Ghost Stories board game, the new Black Secret version of the game increases the terror of the original game by kicking the number of players up to 2-5. And that extra player gets to control the villain of the game, Wu-Feng. The other players must face off against his ghost armies and spells, but have magical mantras, which increase by with the level of play, to protect them. If you’re into the original game or Last Night on Earth, give the new Ghost Stories: Black Secret at try.

Space will not be the final frontier for Marvel Heroclix, but it will be one of the most awesome. The new Galactic Guardians Heroclix set hit stores today, full of new cosmic figure goodness for your Heroclix collection. Focusing on characters like Silver Surfer, Nova, Dr. Strange, and Galactus, this new set comes in regular boosters as well as Super Boosters which contain a colossal figure. Collect them all to flesh out your forces with the power cosmic!

If you enjoy your roleplaying dark, demented, and Lovecraftian, you’ll need to pick up the Carcosa RPG hardcover. Made specifically for adults, this system is compatible with old school fantasy adventure games, offering 800 encounters to enact. Come prepared for bone-chilling horror and violence, as this game delivers the gruesome.

A rainbow of delights, bold, beautiful, ready to apply to the most recent of Warhammer Fantasy miniatures.

Shipping together, bound in plastic and packing peanuts: The Empire Codex and numerous new Warhammer Fantasy miniatures. Pick a paint and create.

Dust and debris flutter through the air as six guns are drawn from the hip. But, alas, the gunfighter’s sex changes mid fire. So is the lot of The Good, the Bad, and the Munchkin 2.

Adding three options, a Double Feature Picture Show of zombirific proportions, Zombie Dice 2 expands and expounds upon the mayhem. Santa, the Hunk, and the Babe all must out maneuver certain death.

Once Kickstarted by the masses, the Miskatonic School for Girls now has a new benefactor: YOU. Cards covered in students and teachers battle through the daze of school, all under the watchful eyes of the Eldar Gods.

Herding Cats…the game where cats are herded and family fun is had.

Supplying a Waterdeep dungeon for all to explore, the newest adventure, delivering classic exploring excitement.  Venture forth to the Halls of Undermountain.

The Hunger Games: District 12 is strategy heavy survival game where you and up to three other players attempt to remain alive in the harsh conditions of District 12. Fight to collect clothing, food, and other items as you try to avoid The Reaping. Or be sent to the Hunger Games as punishment.

Or, option 3, you could try the Jabberjay game. This Hunger Games…game (there’s no good way to say that) is two card games in one. The first game is similar to BANG! in that players each control a different Capitol or District Citizen, hiding their identity from all other players as they also attempt to make them flee. As the first game plays 5-12 people, a second 2-4 player game is also included. It is a cooperative game where players work together to protect citizens from the Peacekeepers.

If you remember the instantly addictive tile battling game, Pocket Battles, from a year or so back, you’ll be excited to hear there’s a new expansion deck out today. This time around it’s Macedonians versus Persians. If you haven’t played the game, it’s based around opponents creating armies out of their various tiles, then pitting against each other on three separate fronts. Pocket Battles is an easy game to pick up, in large part due to the fact that you can begin with any of the Versus Packs.

Next up we have two new additions to the insanely popular Agricola. These two individual decks of cards add a completely new experience to the classic board game. First, is the World Championship WM Deck. This deck was created at the first ever Agricola World Championship by its very own fans and players. The deck contains 115 new cards divided into five individual decks comprised, overall, of 60 Minor Improvements and 55 Occupations. Second, we have the NL Deck with 120 new cards. This deck adds a whole new thematic setting to the game, introducing players to the Netherlands. Both of these will expand and enliven the game, adding a whole new level of play.

Booze can also enliven any gaming experience, especially a full glass of wine. But what about a game about wine? Vinhos is just that game, being a resource control scenario where each player builds a wine empire over the course of 6 years/rounds by purchasing vineyards, gaining a reputation, and establishing a market. If you’re a lover of games like Belfort and Le Havre, Vinhos is you cup of…wine.

Similar in mechanics, but vastly different in theme is Lords of Waterdeep, a Dungeons & Dragons board game. Controlling a Lord of Waterdeep, players compete by purchasing buildings in the city, assigning agents to do your bidding, and spreading your influence further over the city. Offering a play style you’ve never experienced in the world of D&D, Lords of Waterdeep combines fantasy with strategic gaming.

Maaaaaaaps! They don’t love me like I love you! Maaaaaaps!

They do however love Steam like Steam loves you. Or so I’m guessing; they’re all inanimate objects. Anyway, insanity aside, the newest Steam Map Expansion Pack has arrived. This time around the pack comes with three new maps, China (2-4 expansion), California 2090 (3 player expansion), and Great Britain (3-4 expansion). Get to shoveling that coal, folks!

Just like the Jimmy Johns of interstellar delivery, the Rocket Jockey makes his supply run in a flash. Unless those pesky aliens get in their way. That’s the premise of the fast to learn, easy to play card game known as Rocket Jockey. With artwork from legendary comic artist Cliff Chiang, Rocket Jockey is a racing game which pits currier against currier for the fastest delivery time. Have you got the nerve?

Using our summoner powers we’ve summoned a hefty restock on Summoner Wars…summon…summoning…sum…um…yeah. So, not only do we have the Summoner Wars Master Set back in stock, but also the rereleases of the Dwarves/Cave Goblins and Phoenix Elves/Tundra Orcs expansion packs. Along with all this, the new Taliya’s Spirit and Piclo’s Magic Reinforcement Packs are in stock.

Team work is put to the test in Mayfair Games‘ Whitewater. Players control two rowers in two different rafts of four rowers each (try to say that three times fast). So, it becomes a careful decision of how much energy to exert and in which raft, all while trying to avoid obstacles in your path. Quite the family outing.

Pergamemnon travels far, far back in time to a point when the Carthagians, Romans, Hellenes, Egyptians, and Persians ruled the world. They also didn’t get along very well. A card based battle game where players square off, nation to nation, with soldiers, war machines, and creatures of legend. Containing 110 cards and all the rules you’ll ever need, Pergamemnon give you all you’ll need to rule the world.

Another P card game from Iron Games, who made the above Pergamemnon, Pax takes place during the Spartacus uprisings. More on the card management side of things alonside tactical decisiveness. If you’re a fan of 7 Wonders, you should give it a look see.

‘Kay, let’s get started.

Two restock items from the same company shipped in today; both are card games, both are colorfully designed.

First up, we’ve got The Big Idea. And what is The Big Idea, you may ask sniddly? Well, I’ll explain. You may be familiar with the game if you ever picked up the previous Cheapass Games version of it. Now, however, The Big Idea has been retooled as a complete party game. Players combine noun and adjective cards to create insane inventions that they then attempt to pitch to the other players. Every secretly votes on the best inventions and who ever ends up with the most approval wins the round. Add drinks and you’re good to go.

For the second I’ll need you pay close attention, ladies and gentlemen. As my lovely assitant takes the stage, please remain utterly quiet.

Yes, Illusio brings the magic, folks! A card game based around a battle of illusion, players choose which famous magician they want to control, then set out to trade off spells, slights-of-hand, and other parlor tricks in an effort to become the top trickster of the 1920′s.

Finally tonight there’s a new Dungeons and Dragons tile set on the block. This time around the setting is Cathedral of Chaos. As always, six tiles, double-sided tile sheets as well as tokens comprise this handy-dandy little supplemental pack.