Welcome! Here you can read the archived news of Shugo and you can also get to know more about past developments.
Round 1 (Beta)
The first round was won by clan Takeda. Congratulations to clan Takeda!
As result of the first round being a beta round, there were two bugs eliminated from the game, aswell as minor improvements done in correcting typos.
The first bug to be detected was a recruitment bug, were the player's treasury could go in the negative. This was corrected in due time with no major consequences to the gameplay. The second bug was harder to detect and ensured that the game needed a minor overhaul. Clan Nagao detected this bug and reported the fact that too many ninja's could be recruited.
Both the players of clan Takeda and clan Nagao considered the game to be fun, except for Nagao it became clear in the latter stage of the game, that Takeda would win the game as by then he was already too big to be handled.
Activity generally was good with a minimum of 2 players logging in during the day and a peak of 9 players signing up for the game. Two players were eliminated early on, while 5 players actively pursued the goal of winning the game. In the end Nagao and Takeda battled over Satsuma province, the last province to be conquered by clan Takeda.
Round 2
After beta round was over a third bug dealing with the arrival of the Portuguese was eliminated. The game got an major overhaul. Espionage and the Portuguese was changed in the game, new pictures and graphics were made, making the game more visual. A forum was made so that players could chat with eachother and a logout page was made. Basically the game became version 2.0.
Clan Akita won the second round after a fierce battle with among other clan Kono. Clan Takeda and Nagao were rather quickly eliminated.
Round 3
After a brief pause of a few days a new round had commenced. A restart was made into the first week of the game when 2 cheaters were caught and promptly deleted.
Kikkawa eventually won the round after Kikkawa surpassed Akita early in the round. Akita tried to catch up later in the round, but ultimately failed to do so and thus became a close second in the race to win.
Round 4
The Chiba clan was eliminated early on in the game. Imagawa and Maeda were quick to expand their realm. Shimazu entered late in the game and was able to defeat Imagawa, only to be defeated in turn by Maeda, who ultimately won the game.
Round 5
Changes were made to the game. New units were introduced including warrior monks. The economy changed also and it became possible to sell silks at the market or the port. Some provinces got mines and tax collection was somewhat automated. Movement of the headquarters became restricted to the owned or allied provinces. Espionage recieved a complete overhaul. New to the game was the ability to send ninja and geisha. Basically the game became version 3.0.
The fifth round came to a close when Kono won. Uesugi, Date, Honma, Hosokawa, Shimazu and many others competed in the fifth round.
Round 6 (Second Beta)
A new round came online after all the pages were finished and tested. Many thanks to the people who signed up to help in the second beta. Testing had to be postponed because I had the flue. On march the 8th 2009 Shugo celebrated its first birthday. The game had been online for over a year.
Clan Uesugi, Takeda, Akita, Kono and others were among the clans to sign up for the second beta. A host of new features were introduced in this beta. Diplomacy changed so that Daimyo clans could vassalize other clans. Aside from selling silks at the market it also became possible to sell tea. Construction was expanded considerably, it became possible to build more than castles alone. Recruitment was also changed and the game was expanded to include 16 different units. The game essentially became version 4.0.
Round 7
Round 7 started on march the 20th. Mori was very lucky with assassinating other Daimyo and this proofed to be his road to victory. Both Chiba and Uesugi tried their best to combat Mori, but ultimately failed to do so when Mori took Kyoto and became Shogun. Otomo and Shoni were unfortunate and were eliminated early on, only to reappear as vassals of Chiba and helping Chiba to fight Mori. Otomo wreaked havoc on Mori's interior lands, but in the end this proofed to be an unsuccesful effort to halt Mori's advance. Uesugi had to content with 2nd place and Chiba with 3rd place in the rankings.
Round 8
New features were introduced in this round. Alliances were reintroduced, but this time alliances can be made by marrying off a daughter. The minimum age was set to 15 years old both for assassinations and attacking. Building and recruitment costs were increased. Attacking became restricted to armies with a general or a kagemusha, while defending became unrestricted. Random disasters were introduced, such as typhoons and earthquakes. Arquebuses were made available to all the clans in 1543, but became cheaper for Christian Daimyo. Clan bonuses were introduced.
The new round began on may the 14th. Activity was good, but same clans became ronin early in the round. Hojo started out good and quickly became the number one clan, but he was brought down by an alliance of 4 clans. Sanada's alliance with Maeda and Date was his road to succes and he eventually won the 8th round. Maeda, Date, Asakura and Mori were among the top clans competing for the Shogunate.
Round 9
A completely new version was postponed, because Sanada won the 8th round before the changes and the new map were finished. Minor alterations were made to the game. Earthquakes and typhoons became more frequent and more severe. The castellan bonus was weakened from 50 defense points to 25 defense points per defensive upgrade and the Jizamurai recieved half of normal income of rebellious towns. The round started on thursday the 11th of june. The round came to an end when Kobayakawa won and became Shogun. Closely tied in the race were Chiba, Yamanouchi, Kitabatake and Mori. Asai did do great in the round, but ultimately got knocked down out of the top 5 in the rankings.
The bug in the map that appeared to Firefox users was eliminated in that round and made future changes to the map unnecessary.
Round 10
The 10th round began on july the 7th.
Some changes were made for this round. Construction and recruitment was altered and daimyo were allowed for the first time to vassalize lower ranking daimyo. Some bugs were detected, especially with regard to assassinations. Yearly chronicles were archived early in the round.
The 10th round became one of the toughest and most entertaining rounds yet seen. Deception and intrigue were used by many like a well oiled sword. Whoever was in the lead one year, might be at the bottom of the rankings the next year.
Early in the round clans were expanding their realm and devouring inactive and unused clans at great speed. The speed of expansion lulled in 1488 as numerous Daimyo were being assassinated. Eventually Kyushu was held by 3 clans: Otomo, Shimazu and Shoni, of which Shoni appeared to be the strongest clan and was then seen as the most likely Daimyo to become the new Shogun.
Elsewhere in the west Mori, Akamatsu, Kono and Chosokabe tried their best to stop the onslaught of the Kyushu clans, however with a reluctant Chosokabe and with Akamatsu betraying the unofficial alliance, things quickly deteriorated for the western clans and particularly Mori was hit hard by Shoni.
Meanwhile in the east some clans were expanding their realm at the cost of other clans. Friends became enemies, only to become friends again as allegiances turned to meet the ever changing situation. Some towns changed hands numerous times.
Both some of the eastern and western clans were waiting on what Hatakeyama would do, since he held Kyoto and was steadily expanding his realm in the centre of Japan.
Unbeknownst to many however, Hatakeyama had become inactive. Both Bessho and Akamatsu were vassals of Shoni and this meant Shoni had the ability to move his armies within reach of Kyoto. With Hatakeyama finally eliminated, due to his inactivity and with Shoni armies in striking distance of Kyoto he must have seen it as easy, or perhaps a little too easy this time. Shoni even managed to capture Kyoto, but he didn't have the required wealth to become Shogun. In the previous rounds this usually spelled the end of the round, but in 1492 both Shimazu and Otomo saw an opportunity and turned on Shoni and attacked him. Shoni's strength and resources quickly dwindled as Shoni was attacked on all sides.
With the eastern clans fighting eachother and Shimazu and Otomo wreacking havoc on Shoni, Asai saw an opportunity to take advantage of the situation and he captured Kyoto from Shoni in 1494, whilst Nambu and Mogami were busy devouring the lands of the inactive Hatakeyama. This grab of Kyoto turned out to be an ill fated move of Asai and the very next year Asai's forces were being hammered down by numerous clans from all over Japan, even Nambu managed to sneak in an attack. Within the span of just a few years, Asai's realm was down to a mere quarter of its previous size. Ninja's managed to burn Kyoto twice in 1496, which at that time was still held by Asai and in 1497 Kyoto was captured by Nambu, who in turn lost it the very same year to Shoni.
When the dust settled, 6 strong clans emerged as potential candidates to become the new Shogun. Otomo, Takeda, Shimazu, Mogami, Oda and Nambu all managed to hold quite a large number of towns. Ota who was Kyoto Kanrei at that time and Akamatsu who had many allies and vassals were also seen as powerful, despite the fact that they didn't nearly have as much towns as the 6 top clans in the rankings. The other clans basically held on for dear life, hoping not to lose what little they had left.
Who would emerge victorious? Noone could tell as the 6 most powerful clans flip-flopped for top position in the rankings. War broke out between the eastern clans and the Kyushu clans when Otomo attacked and captured Kyoto. Mogami and Takeda managed to push back Otomo and Shimazu all the way to Kyushu island. At the end Mogami and Takeda were closely tied together in the rankings with Nambu being a distant third. Takeda finally won in 1504 with a last minute attack on Kyoto, bringing the 10th round to an end.
Round 11
Round 11 began on the 6th of august 2009 and came to an end when Mori was proclaimed as the new Shogun. Other likely candidates to win late in the round were Oda, Satake and Asakura. Togashi, Mogami and several Kyushu clans did well early in the round put were eventually surpassed by other clans. The round opened with a war between Togashi and Satake and their allies in the east which ended in a stalemate. They later joined hands and in their combined effort defeated Mogami, who never quite managed to recover. A series of assassinations marred the strength of smaller clans, but also helped to slowdown to progress of wealthier clans. Again like the previous round the Kyushu clans were defeated by the Eastern clans. Hatano took Kyoto, but lost it soon afterwards. Oda picked up a large number of vassals from previously defeated clans. Later in the round it came to a test of power between Ota and Oda, ultimately though neither of them won as it was to be Mori who claimed the Shogunate.
Round 11 saw a whole list of minor changes introduced to the game:
Round 12
Round 12 began on the 9th of october 2009. This round opened with many clans signing up for the game and gobbling up the remaining lands in a short timespan.
Early skirmishes broke out between Asakura and Tsutsui, but the first major war started with combined attacks of Satake, Hojo and Takeda against Tsutsui. Tsutsui allied with Date and Hatakeyama and a fierce war erupted in the east. Date suffered inmensely from the attacks of both Takeda and Satake, who carved up the Date lands within a few years, leaving Date with only Sado island as his last remaining stronghold.
Meanwhile things were very quiet on Kyushu island. Eventually Miyoshi saw some action against Tsutsui and Shimazu. Kitabatake went inactive and his lands were conquered by various clans.
Peace returned to the east, with Date on the losing end of the war. The eastern clans along with the Kyushu clans conquered the remaining towns in the centre of Japan. The eastern clans allied and unified themselves and pressed on in an east versus west war. However Shimazu managed to stay out of the war with the eastern clans and so Kikuchi and Ito bore the full brunt of that war. Kikuchi seeing no hope, torched his castles rather then let them fall into the hands of Shimazu and the eastern clans. The neutrality of Shimazu towards the eastern clans turned out to be a smart move on Shimazu's part, but marked the elimination of Kikuchi and Ito as any serious future contenders. Otomo too was not left untouched by the attacks of Tsutsui, but he did manage to recover later in the round.
The steady expansion in the west had made Shimazu, Hatakeyama and Tsutsui all very powerful clans. War returned in the east, when Tsutsui and Hatakeyama attacked Takeda. Satake tried to aide Takeda and for a short time the war see-sawed back and forth. However with a reluctant Hojo and Shimazu siding with Hatakeyama, the Takeda-Satake alliance ultimately turned out to be too weak to fend off the attacks by Hatakeyama and Takeda grew weaker with every new year. Due to multiple assassinations Satake and Takeda could not match the amount of attacks of their enemies. Takeda managed to capture Kyoto from Date who had received it from Asakura. This forced Satake to break the alliance with Takeda. Due to the loss of so many of his lands Takeda was not able to lay claim to the title of Shogun.
The attention of Shimazu, Tsutsui and Hatakeyama turned on Hojo, who turned out to be an easy prey, because of his inadequate defenses. Asakura's lands too were easily conquered. Shimazu grew to enormous stature and became very powerful, reaching an income of well over 100,000 koku very early. Noone had ever been so powerful before and even Shimazu's allies were beginning to fear Shimazu's ever growing power. Ito managed to capture Kyoto from Takeda, but lost it a few years later to Hatakeyama. Hatakeyama too was unable to claim the position of Shogun and Hatakeyama suffered from a massive amount of rebellions in his lands. Hatakeyama defended Kyoto with an enormous garrison, but lost so many towns to Satake and Shimazu that he could no longer meet the requirement to become the new Shogun.
Finally Shimazu attacked Hatakeyama at Kyoto and he needed a staggering five attacks before he managed to break through Hatakeyama's defenses. Ninja's were send to Shimazu's lands, but to no avain. Shimazu had simply grown too large and had become too powerful for the other clans to mount any serious opposition. Shimazu conquered Kyoto in 1516, bringing the 12th round to an end in 1518.
Here is a list of changes of round 12:
Round 13
Round 13 began on the 29th of november 2009. This was one of the shortest rounds ever, except for second beta. Abe, Todo, Kakizaki and Uesugi were quick to expand their realm. Eventually Abe made a surprise attack on Todo and stormed into Shikoku island, blocking Todo's way to the centre of Japan and taking most of Todo's major weapons manufacturing centres. Abe became had many vassals and became Kyoto Kanrei shortly after the attack on Todo. Abe had become the wealthiest clan and did not get into a conflict with Kakizaki and Uesugi and soon afterwards became Shogun.
Here is a list of changes of round 13.
Round 14
Round 14 began on the 28th of december 2009 and came to an end on the 25th of januari 2010. Suwa, Murakami expanded their reams swiftly and Shimazu and Shibata followed in their footsteps. A lot of players went inactive in this round. A war erupted between Murakami and Suwa. This war drew Shibata into the fight and Shibata made a vain attempt to support Suwa. In the end Shibata and Murakami fought over Kyoto. Murakami won round 14 with a huge advantage over Shibata, who come second place.
Here is a list of changes for round 14:
Round 15
Round 15 began on the 10th of february 2010 and ended on the 22th of february. There were no major changes made in this round. In all 8 people signed up and 6 people actually played and only 4 were active at the end of the round. I ended the round primarily due to the fact that there were not enough players.
Round 16
Round 16 began on the 25th of february 2010 and ended on march the 21st when Akamatsu won the game. A few minor tweaks were made to the game mechanics, but no major changes were made. In all ten people signed up, with about six players actively participating in the game. Murakami was in the lead in the court rankings early in the round, but he went inactive. Akamatsu allied with Kobayakawa. Date attacked Satake, but apart from this, the round saw largely peaceful expansion, with clans constructing many towns. In 1500 Akamatsu send a ninja to Date, with Ii returning the favor to Akamatsu, but to no avain. Akamatsu finally won in the year 1501.
Round 17
Round 17 began on the 23rd of march 2010 and ended on april the 13th. Date got in the lead early in the round and he took a lot of mines in the north. In all about 10 players signed up, many of whom took a clan in the east. It got quite crowded in the east, with many clans seated right next to eachother. Shiba signed a pact with Togashi, whilst Takeda and Honda sought to attack Sanada. Conflict erupted in the east when both Takeda and Honda attacked Sanada in Shinano province. Date had become inactive and left his guard down. Takeda and Honda managed to take advantage of the inactive Date and attacked his lands in Mutsu province, even Togashi managed to take a few districts. With Date gone, takeda was in the lead, followed closely by Otomo in the west. As Takeda moved to Yamashiro so did Otomo. A short fight erupted in Yamashiro province between Takeda and Otomo. A confused Togashi also attacked Kyoto, but failed to take the capital. Otomo did manage to capture Kyoto from Takeda, but Takeda reconquered it swiftly and ultimately won this round.
Round 18
Round 18 began on the 14th of April 2010. Many players signed up for this round. Clans like Date, Takeda and Suwa took most of the mines in the east and they took an early lead in the rankings, meanwhile Amako and Todo followed closely in the west. Expansion was largely peaceful early in the round, save for a few short conflicts. Wars did occur when there was virtually no more unoccupied land left. Takeda attacked Suwa and Date and Takeda set fire to a lot of towns in Shinano province which were held by Suwa. Hatano torched his lands except for one town in Omi province after he was attacked by clans like Yamana. A lot of new clans emerged about halfway during the round, some of whom got more land from their newfound liege. A lot of battles took place on the Chugoku peninsula and in the east, while Shikoku was largely peace and flowers.
Eventually five clans had the required wealth to become Shogun and Takeda, Amako, Todo, Tendo and Yamana fought over Kyoto. Amako was the first to take Kyoto, but lost it soon to Yamana, who gave Kyoto to his vassal Ushio.
Tendo managed to take Kyoto too and actually held on to it for a full year, unfortunately for him he no longer met the wealth requirement due to the many rebellions in his lands, that seriously affected his income. Clans like Yamana and Amako send so many ninja's to Tendo's lands that he was unable to win. The fight over Kyoto was intense with Amako grabbing Kyoto from Tendo within a matter of seconds before the turn change. Another close call came when Takeda held the Shogun title and was about to attack Yamashiro province yet again, but mistakenly attacked the wrong district. The mistake was caused by Shiji, a vassal of Amako, who in the previous year had torched Kyoto and built a ricefield there instead, which led Takeda to the wrong belief that Kyoto was in the adjacent mountainous district. Yet another close call came in 1516 when Tendo desperately tried to keep Takeda out of Kyoto and succeeded in doing so.
Meanwhile Shiji assassinated many of Yamana's generals and Amako kept out an ever watchful eye to the events occuring in Yamashiro province. Todo carefully expanded his domain when he attacked districts in Owari and Mikawa province, which were previously held by Oda. The end finally came in 1518 when Tendo reconquered Kyoto in the last minute, bringing round 18 to an end on the 25th of may 2010.
Here is a list of the changes made in round 18:
Round 19
Round 19 started on the 26th of may 2010. Hojo was quick to expand and took an early lead in the rankings after he attacked and destroyed Imagawa. Clans gradually expanded further as each clan took its own slice of Japan. Eventually there was almostno free land left and Kasahara noticed he was closed in by Asai and Niki. Niki made some early grabs of districts in Kii province held by Kasahara, but Niki hadn't counted on the aide of Haga. Isshiki also started to attack and 3 clans were too much to deal with for Niki. Kasahara decided to become a vassal of Asai and peace was struck between Haga and Niki. A war started between Otomo and Mori, which looked like it had turned into an ugly vendetta, as both didn't stop attacking and harassing eachother for years on end. Even Shimazu made some attacks in the west.
A series of assassinations came in later years, with Hojo pointing the finger at Niki. As it turned out however Niki wasn't the cause, but he did give in to the might of Hojo. Meanwhile Asai had captured Kyoto, but he didn't initially meet the wealth requirement, so was unable to be Shogun for the moment, but Asai did have plenty room for expansion in Dewa province. All clans watched with an ever uneasy eye, when Asai would break the income requirement. That moment finally came in the summer of 1506. Niki, Hojo, Haga and many other clans soon diverged their efforts and began to destroy Asai in an effort to stop from reinstating central authority. That effort succeeded when Niki captured Kyoto, but he lost it the following year to Haga. Next Hojo was the one to capture Kyoto. With Mori busy fighting Otomo in the west and Asai absent, all the effort fell onto Haga and he was unable to stop Hojo. Hojo ultimately won round 19 in 1510.
Here is a list of the latest changes made to the game mechanics in round 19:
Round 20
Round 20 started on the 5th of july. Most clans emerged in the west and Kyushu got quite crowded. Meanwhile the east was the opposite. Akamatsu took an early lead in the rankings, but was eclipsed by eastern clans such Date and Ota. Hostilities began with Akamatsu burning Yamauchi towns and assassinating his generals. Yamauchi tried to return the favor but failed doing so. Akamatsu quietly encroached into Yamshiro province. Meanwhile a war erupted between some western clans, with Otomo, Shoni, Akizuki and Ymauchi all fighting eachother. Akamatsu finally took Kyoto in 1496, but lost it to Ota the year after that and so Akamatsu failed to win. Both Ota and Date made sallied forth through Kitabatake's lands to prevent Akamatsu from winning. Akamatsu recaptured Kyoto in 1498, but lost it again the following year. Meanwhile the western clans were still busy fighting eachother, though Otomo did make one attack on Akamatsu.
Ultimately Kyoto fell to the Date clan and after losing it for a while to Akamatsu, it was recaptured in a last minute attack and so Date won round 20 in 1502.
Here is a list of future developments that were implemented in round 20:
Round 21
Round 21 started on the 2nd of august 2010. A war started in the east when Sanada assassinated the Daimyo of the Daidoji clan. Daidoji however was economically much stronger than Sanada. Sanada was unable to hold back Daidoji's forces and so Daidoji kept steadily encroaching into Shinano and slowly towards the centre of Japan. Here Asano and Shimazu succesfully fought Daidoji and for a time it seemed like Daidoji was in for big trouble. Sanada was able to regroup and strengthen his forces and expand his lands into the north of Japan. However Asano soon refocused his efforts and Daidoji was able to retake Kyoto. Sanada and others kept burning the palace down with their ninjas and so it looked like we wouldn't see another Shogun in a long time. Eventually Daidoji did manage to keep the palace in Kyoto and hence Daidoji finally won the game in the year 1505.
Here is a list of changes to the game that were implemented in round 21:
Round 22
Round 22 started on the 14th of september 2010. A war began in the east when Oda attacked Kasai. Kasai got help from Niki and both Niki and Kasai conquered Oda's lands. Eventually Ryozuji attacked Niki and kept conquering more and more lands of Niki and Niki also lost Kyoto. The round ended in the year 1516 when Kasai became Shogun.
Round 23
Round 23 started on the 27th of october 2010. In all 5 players signed up. Shimazu made a small skirmish against Kuroda who was unable to defend himself. After a fight with Ushio, Shimazu marched to Kyoto and took it. By the year 1493 Shimazu met the requirements and so he won round 23.
Round 24
Round 24 began on the 25th of june 2012 and ended on the 29th of july 2012. About 25 players signed up. The game started with the clans slowly expanding their domain. Things stayed relatively quiet the first ten years. Abe was initially the wealthiest clan, until he was eclipsed by Atagi for a while.
Things became particularly crowded at Mino province. In 1477 both Abe and Saito declared war on Kato. Saito started the war on Kato with a few unsuccesful attacks on Kato's main army. Kato put up a good fight, even taking out Saito's headquarters at one time, but when Abe attacked Kato's main army, things turned sour for Kato. Kato attempted to flee to the Kinai region, but this didn't help him and he was eventually eliminated. With Kato out of the fray, both Abe and Saito had plenty of room for expansion. Oda moved into the Kinai area and conquered Kyoto, but he was nowhere near close enough to the wealth requirement.
Another war erupted in 1491 on the Tsugoku peninsula when Oda and Saito declared war on Kikkawa. The war started with a few failed attacks by Oda. Losses on both sides were high, but Oda and Saito steadily conquered more and more land of Kikkawa, until Kikkawa's wealth was only half of what it had been. It turned out to be a long and dragged out war for both sides. Kikkawa had one really massive army that became a real cumbersome threat to Oda.
Meanwhile Abe peacefully expanded in Shikoku in lands that had previously been held by Atagi and also into the Kanto region, until he bordered Utsunomiya. Utsunomiya moved his major armies further up north. By 1497 Saito and Abe were both very wealthy and powerful, each making more than 80000 koku.
Abe surprised Oda by declaring war on him in 1498. Oda was hit by a flurry of assassins and Ninja. Abe used no less than five massive armies to attack Oda and conquer his lands. Within a matter of 2 years Abe had taken a third of Oda's lands including Kyoto and had wiped out most of Oda's armies. In the year 1500 Abe became Shogun. Worried about what might happen, Utsunomiya declared war on Abe, but it was to no avail, as Saito and Kikkawa remained allied to Abe. Abe won in 1501.
Round 25
Round 25 began on the 3rd of August and ended on the 4th of september 2012. The round started with the clans carefully expanding their realms. The first war erupted in the north of Japan, where Nambu fought Date. Nambu initially seemed to have the upper hand, but things turned in favor of Date, as he appeared the more active player in this summer vacation round. Many of the clans had allies. Eventually Date took Kyoto and as he wasn't opposed in Kyoto, he managed to become Shogun and win this round.