Hanami, Queen of Flowers - Silvermoon Trade Syndicate
The head of the Jade Rose has always been the Hanami, Queen of Flowers, the identity of the Queen is never known, for the Roses never go by a real name from the moment they join the sisterhood of the Jade Rose. Despite there having been many Hanamis over the years one thing remains constant, she is always the most beautiful and attractive woman in the Jwar Isles, or even the whole of the Golden Empire. She is the embodiment of grace as she moves sensually, almost gliding, drawing all but the strongest of wills under her thrall, toying with them, a cat with mice, unescapably trapped by her bewitching allure. Those lucky or unlucky enough to receive a Kiss from the Rose are known to lose control of their actions entirely, impotent to her will.
Penanggalan - Cult of Yurei
The Vampiric Yokai is yet another nightmare made flesh by the weakening of the balance. These parasitic monsters only purpose is to move from one victim to the next, draining the host of blood whilst riding the body in search of its next prey. From a distance it is hard to work out the unnatural, jerky movements of the poor soul’s body the Penanggalan uses to get close. By the time danger is confirmed the Penanggalan has either trapped its victim in its stare, or uncoiled from its host with shocking speed and wrapped its long tendril around the hapless soul, incapacitating them and allowing it to feed and then inhabit the body, wearing the corpse like a cheap kimono so easily discarded when its use is served.
Special Card Competition - 1200 Silvermoons up for grab
One thing we here at GCT Studios pride ourselves on is the responsiveness of the community and the great feedback we receive from the players on ways to improve and enhance the Bushido play experience. This year we released the first Special card pack for each of the current factions. We have been really pleased with the way these cards were received and the feedback has been exactly what we had hoped it would be.
So, with that said we thought, “How can we involve the community more, and give a little back?”. Well the answer is simple, enable the players to directly engage in the game and characters they love putting on the gaming table week in, week out by having an open competition to design your own Special card!!.
How do we enter?, we here you ask. Well it’s simple, all you have had to do is submit the following information through the website contact tab, selecting “Special Card Competition” as the category.
What information do we need to submit? Simple, just enter the information as it appears on the Special cards.
FACTION(s)
NAME
TYPE
DESCRIPTION
TRAITS
RICE COST
Entrants are restricted to no more than three entries. The competition runs from now until August 31st 2014. Once we have all the entries in we will pick the top 3 for each faction and put it out to a public vote. The winners will see their Special card published in Special Card pack 2 next year and receive 100 Silvermoon reward points; the other finalists in the each faction will receive 50 Silvermoon reward points.
Ask GCT Studios...
Hey guys, thanks for all your questions, we have picked three to kick off with and the beautiful pile of moons promised have been deposited into your accounts, may spending them bring you joy.
NEW RULES - One question per person per week (anyone breaking this will not have their question answered... even if we really want to)
1. Ret-Ereshkigal asked: “What's your thought process when balancing factions? Do you have tournaments in mind?"
GCT Toby replied: When we concept a faction we also spend a lot of our energies working out how best we can capture the feel of the faction and represent that on the table top. As game designers, and to ensure the game plays and feels different when playing with/against different factions, we build in themes/directions that will be strongly represented in factions and conversely decide where they will be weaker. We create each release with the competitive scene in mind to ensure that players have answers to the questions their opponent’s warbands will ask of them.
2. Ruro asked: “How is your other game coming around? Are there any particular challenges in making a board game compared to a Skirmish game?”
GCT Odin replied: We are very close to start showing you guys what we have planned, the various components are rolling in from some very talented artists and we are incredibly excited at how it is progressing. We are at the stage now that it really is about sharing it with you all and with your support generating some interest before it launches on Kickstarter later this year. In terms of challenges, there are many similarities to making a skirmish game, particularly as we are making a miniatures based board game. We have drawn upon our previous experience for this, for instance we have some amazing miniatures to complement the board game and those wanting to know more about the ninja of the Kage Kaze Zoku are in for a real treat. There are also challenges though, that we are learning, costings for certain elements of the game have been new to us, the miniatures of the game will be plastics and so this is a big step for us. We are working with some highly experienced partners on the production side to guide us through this though. With their help we are feeling really confident about all aspects of the game.
3. Greeny asked: “When is the next set of upgrade cards due for release?"
GCT Toby replied: We have plans to release another special card pack for each faction early next year. We will be making a few changes to the content following feedback from the community. The next special card packs will contain 14 faction specific cards and the generic cards with get their own specific pack. In addition to this change the packs will contain alternate profiles for some characters and new theme forces that will allow players to gain specific benefits in exchange for a restricted pool of options from which to compose their Warbands. Needless to say we are really excited about them. Check out our competition above for a chance to create a card!
Events
Cardiff, Wales - Jwardiff 2014 - TODAY - This annual tournament run by Greeny and Ret-Rudders is a great day out, with promises of flowing silvermoons and the outside chance of cake, what are you waiting for get signed up, check out the link for MORE INFO
Sittingbourne, SE England - Broadside Wargames Show - Saturday 7th July - Two of our Retainers Ret-Ridmasta and Ret-Balldman will be demoing Bushido pop along to get a run through the basics or challenge a pro, check out the link for MORE INFO
Perth, Western Australia - Iron Dragon 3 - Sunday 10th August - Another annual tournament run by our Retainer Ret-AdvanceOp is back for its third incarnation and it's shaping up to be great, check out the link for MORE INFO
Gen Con, Indianopolis - Masters tournament - Saturday 16th August - A brilliant opportunity for players to test their skills against the best the US has to offer. There will be a ton of Silvermoons being handed out as well as a number of other prizes, check out the link for MORE INFO
Nottingham, England - Tournament - Sunday 17th August - Andyg will be running a tournament and from what we've heard he is a bit of an expert so why not get along and support his event, check out the link for MORE INFO
Gothenburg, Sweden - Tournament - Saturday 30th August - Ret-MattT will be running a 3 round, 50 rice tournament with Silvermoons up for grabs.