Ok, I'm cheating in this category, since it will be for the best wargames that *I* found this year, since apparently despite being a hardcore strategy gamer and WW2 buff, I missed out on some of the classic series.

Case-in-point, I'm going here with HPS Sims' / John Tiller's Panzer Campaign games. They certainly aren't brand new, though the series is numerous, with something like 17 (!) releases in the series. They aren't flashy, they aren't fast, but they are full of the hex-based, detailed goodness that got me into wargaming in the first place. Strong AI, at least as far as I can tell -- despite loving this kind of game I'm generally awful at them. The graphics are old-school but totally serviceable, but it's the gameplay and the scenario design that really carries these games. There is a lot of love of history here, and it comes through in all the little details. In addition to the monster thousands-of-units full campaigns they all have a pretty wide variety of smaller scenarios to cut your teeth on.

Panzer Campaigns: Stalingrad '42
Panzer Campaigns: Market Garden '44
Panzer Campaigns: Tobruk '41

... among many, many others. Sadly HPS hasn't joined the modern age of direct downloads (something that Matrix and GamersGate / Paradox have completely spoiled me on). Aside from that they are relatively modern games, at least in that they work on Vista, support widescreen and high resolutions, etc. Now, those may not sound like cutting edge technologies, but believe me, for turn based wargames they certainly are.

Note you can get them a lot cheaper through someplace like NWS Online, rather than direct from HPS.

Honorable Mention goes out to SSG's "Kharkov: Disaster on the Donets" which did in fact come out this year. It's the most polished of SSG's game series, and despite some annoying limitations (no widescreen!) the game is quite playable once you learn your way around the interface and it is probably one of the best looking hex-based wargame I've played in a while. However, it has one very critical flaw -- there is only one scenario to play, and it is ginormous. If they had a variety of smaller campaigns, like the excellent Decisive Battles in Normandy, I'd have been all over it. Also, it has a name that is impossible not to make fun of.