Tabletop publisher Plaid Hat Games is to release Starship Samurai, an area control game set in a Japanese-themed sci-fi future where clans battle each other with massive samurai mechs. And while any game that features freakin’ samurai mechs is automatically on our wish list, what really caught our eye is that Starship Samurai is being designed by Isaac Vega, the man behind the excellent Dead of Winter and Ashes: Rise of the Phoenixborn.

Due to hit shelves this summer, Starship Samurai’s setting is essentially feudal Japan in space, with 2-4 players taking on the roles of warring clans fighting for control of the imperial throne. The eight detailed samurai mech miniatures – each of which has unique, strategy-changing abilities – are pretty neat, of course, but Starship Samurai is shaping up to be an interesting game beyond the anime-style eye candy.

In addition to an elegant-looking action selection mechanism, ways to manipulate minor clans through political influence and a trading variant that ups the potential for diplomacy (and back-stabbing!), Starship Samurai is also pleasingly fast-playing, with games only lasting around an hour. Plaid Hat has also already made the rules available online, so you can take a look at Starship Samurai for yourselves.