In April, WizKids will release its tile-based vampire investment game SiliconVania.

In SiliconVania, the Vampire Council is looking to transform dusty old Transylvania into a new global technology hub, and it has enlisted the players to oversee the development.  During the game, players bid on building tiles that they then add to their personal four-by-four city grids.  The tiles offer different types of buildings that will appeal to different kinds of vampire specialists as well as blood banks to satisfy their needs.  The Vampire Council is also eco-conscious, so players must try to maintain animal habitats in their city grid.

In addition to the building tiles, players can also obtain specialist cards.  These cards can provide a one-time ability, or the player can commit to using them for scoring at the additional cost of indicating to the other players what kind of buildings they are trying to gain during the game.  Finally, they can pursue innovations, artifacts, castles, and train stations to further enhance their city grids.

After eight rounds of play, when the city grids are all full, the players score points based on their building tiles and specialist cards, and earn bonuses for maintaining biodiversity in their city grid.

SiliconVania comes with 5 city planning boards, 1 council board, 116 tiles, 105 cards, 60 vampire meeples, 10 animal meeples, and a score pad.  The game was created by J. B. Howell (Reavers of Midgard, Flotilla) and features artwork by Mihajlo Dimitrievksi (Paladins of the West Kingdom, Raiders of the North Sea).  It is intended for 2 to 5 players, ages 14 and up, and plays in 45 to 90 minutes.  MSRP is $39.99.

Click Gallery below to see components from the game.

Earlier this month, WizKids announced a pair of games featuring the X-Men, coming later this year (see “X-Men Battle it out in ‘Marvel:  Rock, Paper, Heroes’” and “WizKids Unveils ‘Marvel:  Age of Heroes X-Men’”).