The Origins Game Fair, devoted to tabletop gaming, was held in Columbus, OH this past weekend. Along with all the dragons and elves, there were a lot of sci-fi themed games. I've got the lowdown for you.
Virtual Worlds was on hand with a dozen MechWarrior simulator pods. These surprisingly sophisticated sims let players climb into the cockpit of an 80-ton walking war machine for just $6 per mission. Read about it here.
An upcoming starship tactical battle game called With Hostile Intent was on display. Although the official rules haven't been released yet, publisher Ninja Magic had some great looking painted ships to show off. There's a gallery of them over at Robot Viking.
Twilight Creations debuted their new invasion game, Martians!!! Based on the same game design as their popular and venerable Zombies!!! series, the game pits the human players against a horde of conquering alien greys. Watch out for the crop circles.
I also got a chance to try out Race for the Galaxy, an interstellar empire building card game. It has some interesting and elegant game mechanics, and the card art features some cool space stations, aliens and futuristic weapons.
Finally, while it's not strictly sci-fi, a new mass combat miniatures game called Arcane Legions generated a lot of interest. The game is based on an alternate history in which Egypt, Rome and the Chinese Han Dynasty battle in a world filled with living mythology, and it has one of the coolest game mechanics I've seen in a long time.