This week, we sit down with an absolute gentleman, which is quite the feat considering he supports Everton.
1. What’s your name and where do you come from?
I am Duncan Bradshaw, Dunkster in terms of my BB name, and I live in Chippenham. Was born in Salisbury, although grew up in Andover, Hampshire, which is why I sound really common and drop my Hs. Moved back to Wiltshire just under twenty years ago with the missus, and intend to stay in this fine county until I expire, and they scatter my body parts from Melksham to Trowbridge. Purely for the lulz.
2. How it started with BB, and experience with the game and wider hobby
Ahhh, that was third edition, I must’ve been mid-teens and my brother and I used to get White Dwarf, saw it released and it was the one game we both fell in love with the idea of immediately. He was orcs, I was humans, and then it spiralled as we bought other teams. All got knocked on the head as we got older and I replaced it with drinking cider and smoking. I picked up the 2016 edition because of the joys of nostalgia and disposable income, even though I had no-one to play it with (the wife tried for one half and gave me ‘the face’). Just before Covid, my BFF, Justin was round and saw it. He played it as a kid too and we had a game for old time’s sake, and it escalated quickly from there.
Apart from that, as a family, we played Man o’ War, but it was Space Crusade, Heroquest and Advanced Heroquest that really got our attention. My proudest moment in Space Crusade was playing as Blood Angels and ditching my mum and her Ultramarines as I had met both objectives and – quite frankly – could not be bothered to save her from a shit ton of genestealers. She got the hump about that. I am trying to get a Blood Angels Kill Team painted too, not to annoy my mother though.
3. What BB achievement are you most proud of?
Probably beating my brother in our first (and I think, last) BB tournament at home. My skaven team, the Crookback Critters beat his orc team 3-1, with star gutter runner, Skarsnik getting a hat-trick. Amazed we got through the entire league without arguing too much, though I think the aforementioned cider drinking started not long after, and we drifted apart for a few years as my priorities changed.
4. Tell us about the team in season three, competitive reasons or something else?
I went with skaven as it’s the one team I have played the most games with, so familiar with their style and their weaknesses. In the May tournament last year, I chose OWA having only played a handful of games with them, and it showed. So figured in order to maintain enthusiasm for the eleven games I had, I would opt for the team I knew the best. I bought the Brutefun techno-rat team off Etsy especially, as who doesn’t love mecha-vermin? It also inspired the team name – Ratshit & Clank.
5. Thought processes behind skills
I had a few practice games with Guard on the two storm vermin – sorry, blitzers – and they made a nice defensive sandwich for the ball carrying gutter runner, and with the lack of secondary skills, Juggs on the rogre was a must. Given the number of both downs he has rolled, it has proved a wise investment. I did start off with three gutter runners, so chose my favourite and gave him sidestep. Predictably, he has become the sole scorer for the team and become an absolute SPP sponge.
As the team has developed, the thrower has got cannoneer, just to make those long throws a bit easier, although I don’t think he has done one long yeet with it yet. In my defence, of the three games since he got the skill, two matches have been very sunny.
6. How would you describe play style with the team
Try to not get into a fight tbh, as the linerats are going to get a pummelling anyway, and it is all well and good having the ability to score in a few turns, if you then only have a handful of players left to defend. The Rogre is a handy distraction piece as some people seem intent on diverting players to try and bundle him. I find him also useful to blitz into a cage and get next to the ball carrier, so prehensile tail limits their options on how to get out. Other than that, get it to the gutter runners, creep into the opponent’s half, make a hole, and leggit.
7. What are your expectations?
Joining in season three, I had one objective – to not finish bottom. When I go into tournaments I set myself three goals; score one TD, get a casualty and win/draw at least one game. TDs have been okay, but predictably with my arms-length approach to blocking, have not caused many casualties. I also figured that by the end of the season I would have another eleven games of experience under my belt, so that can only be a good thing.
8. Outside of BB, what do you do?
I work as a data analytical engineer, which means I make data tables in SQL/Python so people can use them to do fancy things with. I took up running via the Couch to 5k thing during lockdown number three, and have kept that up, and am now up to running half-marathons, where I will gladly go no further. I also used to write some very silly books [ed: and very enjoyable! check ’em out folks], and hope to find the motivation to do so again. Apart from that, I enjoy a few beers, and annoying my wife and two cats.
9. Pirates or ninjas?
Ninjas are cool AF, though pirate ninjas might be better? Isn’t that basically what dark elves are though?
Thanks for sharing Dunk!
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