It has been a great year for Bushido, the new edition Bushido: Risen Sun has been released and players are trying the profiles from all of the new starter sets. I hope Retainers will be able to demo the game more easily with the new lists in the starters; we certainly have a lot more players starting Bushido now!

Players, especially at tournaments, are really starting to get a feel for this edition now, we strove to make the less-used models more appealing and seeing them all tried in various lists is great. Similarly with Special Cards I have seen experimentation with all of them (They are effectively half cost now so why not?). I hope you are all finding the games as balanced as we are, a testament to the months of public playtest you did, there are no standout issues with the game so far.

While we took this year to get the cards and starters out for all factions we haven’t stopped there. The 2020 release schedule looks very full and has some great releases coming. Minimoto Players eager to use the Finest Steel will be happy to know that two new Samurai profiles are coming to support Yuji as well as another Ice Witch and another (Bigger!) bear.

The Cult is getting a new boxed set (Not a starter set, but a box of characters based around a theme) and many of you will have seen the three “Witches”. Well... Surprise! First there are four Yuto and also the box will come with the first of Bushido’s Gashodokuro: Skeletons! The Yurei skeletons are not so much raised dead, animated by the spirit of the deceased like the Kairai, but the bones are animated by a summoned Kami, one of the darker spirits that means only ill for the world. They are extremely hard to kill (With Durable and Regenerate) and they are not slow like Kairai are.

We have said we would like to advance the narrative for the Jwar Isles and to do so we are introducing a whole new mechanic: Cycle Decks. Each year will see a new deck of special cards, including some for each faction and some Ronin cards. These will be themed to the events of the coming year and will tell part of the story with their game effects and flavour text. As we release more of these the choice will become difficult as a Warband may only use ONE cycle deck. The first deck is the Risen Sun Cycle and it sets our scene of the Jwar Isles after the Dragon Clan have won the Prefecture and the great Tsunami struck. This first deck does hint at things to come too...

GCT's Grand Masters events allow the winner to submit a profile to our developers to make into a Bushido model with a card, miniature, story and everything to play in the game. We have no less than four of these ready for release next year for Jung Pirates, KKZ, Cult of Yurei and a Ronin.

Replacement Decks: The last stocks have been ordered and will not be renewed, if you are waiting on getting yours please do so ASAP as this will be the last chance, once they're gone they're gone.

ALL orders over £30 in January will receive a free pack of Silvermoon Faction Dice.

We all know the Shiho are the next Faction for Bushido but while Hiroto is still The Drunken Master and not yet ready to adopt his mantle of leadership as Shiho Hiroto: The Black Eagle, many of his allies are already well prepared for his return. The Tanaka Family of Tsumaga were defeated in the Dragon Wars and swore fealty to the new Prefecture. Secretly they have always been the Eagle’s most loyal followers and upon hearing of Hiroto’s return to Jwar, the eldest daughter of the Clan has started to lead a sizable group of Wolf Clan warriors in open rebellion against the Dragon. The Wolf Clan box has seven models, all Shiho Faction but with a special Theme card to allow you to play a Wolf Clan Warband. For more information on the Wolf Clan the next episode of Robot Dice Explosion podcast will cover the new box and an additional character in full.

Suffice to say that’s not all we have for next year, that’s not even half! It's looking to be a great set of releases and we hope you all enjoy them. GCT will be at Adepticon (Both Developers are looking to play in the tournament so it should be super competitive!), UK Games Expo (Where Jason will be running the UK Grand Masters) and Gen Con (Where we hope to have an event this year, preferably another Grand Masters, maybe a Honbasho). We are looking at running a Bushido tournament in the UK outside of the Expo too either for 2020 or 2021 as we understand the Expo prices can be prohibitive for people who just want to play a Bushido event. We hope to see you at any of these events.

Thank you to all, we appreciate your support and together we've seen Bushido grow beyond all our wildest dreams. It is fantastic to have such an invloved playerbase and it is the willingness to get stuck in and help out whether it be play testing or laying out CSV files (You know who you are ) that makes you all so special. We had to stop accepting new Retainer applications last year but we will revisit the programme and make it more effective for all, soon.

Here's to a brilliant 2020!