Wandering Adventures

Thirty years. That is how long the Pokemon Trading Card Game has been around, and honestly that number stops me in my tracks a little. There is a good chance the reason you first walked into a shop like ours was a booster pack, and there is an even better chance you have handed one to a kid at some point and watched their face when they pulled something shiny. This release, that whole history gets a celebration, and it is a big one. The 30th Celebration set arrives on September 16, and it is doing something the Pokemon TCG has never done before. It is launching worldwide on the same day, everywhere at once, which if you have ever waited months for an English release while watching the Japanese cards online, you will understand is a genuinely nice change. This is not a normal expansion either. It is an all foil special set built around the anniversary, packed with throwbacks and new treatments made to be pulled and kept rather than just played. A few things in it are worth getting excited about. There is a run of thirty Pikachu illustrations, each one done by a different artist, which is exactly the kind of thing collectors go quietly feral over. There is a new rarity treatment giving the chase cards a distinct look. And there are classic reprints reaching all the way back to the beginning, including a Base Set Charizard, which for a lot of us is the card, the one that started the obsession. Alongside the set there is an Espeon and Umbreon premium collection dropping the same day, and if you know anyone in this hobby you know those two Eeveelutions have a following all their own. Zoom out and this is a strong stretch for the game. We are deep in the Mega Evolution era, and it closes out the year in November with Delta Reign, headlined by Mega Rayquaza ex, which is one of the most requested Mega Evolutions there has ever been. So if the anniversary set pulls you back in, there is plenty more coming to keep you here. However you play, whether you are a serious collector chasing the Pikachu run, a parent picking up a pack or two for a birthday, or someone who just wants to sit down and play, we have got you. We run Play Pokemon events at the store, so it is a great time to come find a game, and we will have the 30th Celebration products in as they arrive. Come by Wandering Adventures in Woodbridge, or shop online with free shipping across Canada on orders over 150 dollars. Thirty years is worth marking properly.Our pre-orders are done in-store only, and we prioritize local players first. So if you want to get into it with the 30th anniversary, come check us out Thursday nights!

HeroClix is one of those games that people either already love or have somehow never tried, and I want to talk to the second group for a minute, because you are missing out on one of the most immediately fun things we stock. The whole idea is that your superheroes come pre-painted and ready to play straight out of the box. No assembly, no priming, no waiting until you have painted an army before you can start. You open it, you put figures on a map, and you play. For a hobby that often asks a lot of setup before the fun starts, that is a breath of fresh air. The clever bit is the dial in the base of each figure. As your character takes damage over the course of a game, you click the dial and their stats change, so a hero can get more desperate and dangerous as they get hurt, or gradually wear down. It captures the feel of a comic book fight better than almost anything else on the table, and it means the game stays tense right to the last click. Now is a genuinely good time to start, because the current run of releases is deep and very welcoming to new players. There is a fresh line built specifically to help newer players level up their game, and updated starter sets that hand you a ready to play team of four right out of the gate, with the current Marvel starter fielding classic X-Men in Wolverine, Jean Grey, Cyclops, and Bishop. On top of that there is a steady stream of sets for the fans, with Venom already out and Thunderbolts on the way, plus the Iconix line doing fun single character showpieces. Whatever corner of comics you love, Marvel or DC or something more offbeat, there is a figure for it.  It is affordable, it needs zero preparation, and it lands with basically anyone who has ever enjoyed a superhero movie, which is to say almost everyone. A starter set under the tree gets played on Christmas afternoon, not shelved for a future painting project. We run HeroClix at the store, so once you have a team there is a place to bring it, and we are always happy to teach a first game. Come by Wandering Adventures in Woodbridge to grab a starter or the latest set, or shop the range online. Clix a dial, throw a punch, see for yourself.We run HeroClix at the store →https://wanderingadventures.ca/products/heroclix-zero-to-hero

How to Paint Your First Blood Bowl Team So you've picked your Blood Bowl team, maybe using our team building guide, and now you've got a box of miniatures staring at you from the desk. Good news: a Blood Bowl team is one of the best painting projects in the entire hobby, and I say that as someone who has been painting miniatures for twenty years. You're looking at somewhere between twelve and sixteen models, they're all on the same side, and unlike a Warhammer army there's no codex telling you what colour they should be. It's a sports team. You get to invent the franchise. Here's how I'd approach it. Pick Your Colours Like a Sports Team, Not an Army This is the mindset shift that makes Blood Bowl painting fun. Don't think "what's the official scheme," think "what does my team's home jersey look like." Two main colours and one accent is the classic formula, the same way real sports teams do it. Bold combinations that would look garish on a 40K army look fantastic on a Blood Bowl pitch: purple and gold, teal and orange, black and red. If you're stuck, look at actual football and hockey teams for inspiration. Pick colours you'll enjoy seeing for sixteen models, because consistency is the whole point of a team. Batch Paint, But in Small Groups Painting sixteen models one at a time will take forever, and painting all sixteen at once will burn you out somewhere around the third pair of boots. My sweet spot is groups of four or five: all the Linemen in one batch, then the Blitzers, then the fancy stuff. You keep the assembly line efficiency without feeling like you're working a shift at a factory. Do every model's skin, then every model's jersey, then every model's leather, and the batch is done before you know it. Contrast Paints Are Your Best Friend Here If ever there was a project made for Citadel Contrast paints, it's a Blood Bowl team. Prime the models white or a light grey, then let Contrast do the heavy lifting on jerseys, skin, and leather in a single coat. I use Contrast and Citadel Shades constantly in my own painting, and on a Blood Bowl team they'll get you to a genuinely good-looking tabletop standard in a weekend. From there, a quick highlight on the raised areas lifts everything. If you prefer traditional acrylics, Vallejo and AK Interactive both give you smooth coverage for jersey colours, and AK's ranges are what I personally reach for most these days. Whatever you use, thin coats and patience beat one thick coat every time. Make Your Positionals Easy to Spot Here's a practical one that new coaches learn the hard way: mid-game, you need to instantly tell your Blitzers from your Linemen across the pitch. Real teams solve this with numbers, and you can too, but there are easier tricks. Paint the helmets or shoulder pads a different colour for each position. Give your Catchers white boots. Paint a stripe on the base rim: one colour for Linemen, another for Blitzers, and so on. Base rim markings are my favourite because they're readable from any angle and take about thirty seconds per model. Your opponents will thank you, and so will future you. Don't Sleep on the Bases Blood Bowl bases are half the character of the team. The classic look is pitch turf, and a simple green flock or grass tuft finish works great. But an astrogranite-style stone pitch, a sandy Nehekhara desert, or a snowy Norse field can tie your whole team to its lore. Keep the recipe simple and repeatable, because whatever you choose, you're doing it sixteen times. Varnish Everything Blood Bowl models get handled more than any other miniatures you'll ever own. They're picked up, knocked over, pushed into cages, and occasionally thrown by a Troll. A coat of matte varnish protects hours of your work, and if you want that classic sports-gear look, hit the leather and armour with a touch of satin afterwards. Get Painting A finished Blood Bowl team is one of the most satisfying things you can put on a table, and the whole project is achievable in a couple of weekends. Wandering Adventures in Woodbridge (Vaughan), Ontario carries everything you need to paint your team, including Citadel Contrast paints and Shades, AK Interactive, Vallejo, Army Painter, brushes, and basing materials, plus Blood Bowl team boxes and the new Third Season Edition boxed set. Visit us in-store or shop online at wanderingadventures.ca with free shipping across Canada on orders over $150.