B and the Monkey-Poodle Virus, Part 2

Or How to Play 5150: Alien Fight Night – Finale

Whew!  That’s enough explanation, let’s play and write a story!

He began to paw the canvas like a bull, snorted, grunted, and then charged.  I don’t know if I actually thought of Teddy Welchman at that moment, but I remembered some of what he had said.  Teddy Welchman was the class nerd who helped me pass math and science in high school.  Anyway, watching a large mass weighing three hundred pounds, Rhoid Roy, accelerating toward a smaller mass weighing only one hundred forty pounds, me, reminded me the collision would not be pleasant.  So, I chose to accelerate myself along a different vector.

I was hoping he would crash into the corner post, but he managed to stop before doing so.  He looked around as if I’d magically disappeared and finally turned to face the center of the ring where I was standing.  With a wave of a glove, I motioned for him to join me.

Those two paragraphs meant I placed the two figures in the boxing ring and started with the Stalking Table.  Each round starts with the fighters on the Stalking Table, when they return to the Stalking Table, the round is half over, and when they return to the Stalking Table a second time the round is over, and a new round has begun.  The charging metaphor popped into my mind because the Heroclix figure looks as though he is charging into action.

I know that I’m going to throw 7d6 and Roy is going to throw 8d6.  He has to throw all of his bonus dice, the dice with a result of 1 will be used.  The winner of this roll could win a point and gain the advantage on the Boxing Table.  So, I have to decide how many of my bonus dice will I use.  I don’t need the point, because at the start of a round, Betty’s Charisma Attribute gives her two.  I’m going to be conservative and use only 2 bonus dice.  It turns out Roy will use only 2 of his bonus dice.

We roll our dice: I score 4 Successes and Roy scores 5.  No one wins the stalking point, and we move to the Boxing Table after I make the entries on the score tracking card.

On the Boxing Table, Betty has the advantage with the Quick Reflexes Attribute she will roll 8 dice whereas Roy will only roll 6.  Now I have to guess how many bonus dice he might get to use in considering how many I will use.  If Betty scores 2 or more successes than Roy, she will back him into the Ropes and move to the Taking Control Table.  It’s a long fight, so I’ll be conservative and use only 1 bonus die. Turns out Roy will use 2 bonus dice.

After the roll, Betty scores 1 point and the fighters stay on the Boxing Table.

Again, I remain conservative and choose to use only 1 bonus die.  Roy will use 3.  This means we will both be rolling 9 dice.

Ouch, Betty takes a pounding!  Roy scores 5 points, backs Betty into the ropes and Betty loses 1 Boxing die.  We move to the Taking Control Table.

With Betty being on the Ropes, Roy gains 1d6.  Roy will be rolling 8 dice to Betty’s 6, so I choose to use 2 Bonus dice.  Roy adds 1 Bonus die.

The boxers score the same number of successes which means they’ve clenched one another; the referee breaks it up and they return to the center of the ring.  We go back to the Stalking Table.

The round is now half over.  Betty is able to recover her lost Boxing die. It’s still early in the fight and I choose not to use any Bonus dice.  Roy has to use two.  Betty will roll 7 dice and Roy will roll 10.

Roy scores a point and wins the advantage as we go to the Boxing Table.

With the advantage and a Bonus die, Roy will be rolling the same number as Betty – 8.  After the roll, Roy scores a point, and the fighters remain on the Boxing Table.

Neither Betty nor Roy use any Bonus Dice.  After the roll, Betty scores 2 points and has pushed Roy into the Ropes.  We go to the Taking Control Table.

Sensing a need to turn things around, I opt to use a bonus die.  Roy doesn’t get to use any bonus dice and is down 1 boxing die by being on the ropes.  Betty rolls 9 dice to Roy’s 6.

Betty wins one more success.  She scores a point and pushes Roy into a corner.  By being in the corner, Roy loses another Boxing die.  They stay on the Taking Control Table.

Betty gains 2d6 for Roy being in the corner, so I choose not to use any bonus dice.  Roy has to use his last remaining 2 bonus dice.  After the roll, Roy wins by one success, which mean the fighters clinch.  Returning to the Stalking Table means the round is over.

Keeping Score

There are nine more rounds to go in this fight.  Now that you have a general idea on how the game is played, it would be a bit redundant and maybe even a bit boring to continue a detailed account.  We didn’t encounter a situation to go to the Knock-Out Table or the Recovery Table.  Also, neither fighter was hurt necessitating a need to consult the Injury Table.

At the end of the fight is when the judges score the fight.  The game uses the ten point MUST system for scoring.  The end of the first round has Betty trailing Roy by 1 point – it’s Roy 7 and Betty 6.  A quick roll on the Judges Scoring Table reveals a Split Decision from the judges in Roy’s favor.  Roy is awarded 10 points for the round while Betty receives 9.

Continuing the Story

When writing the story part, writing about Bonus Dice, and rolling successes doesn’t make for interesting reading.  I look at the tracking sheet and look at where points were scored, where a fighter was pushed onto the ropes or backed into a corner, and then imagine what happened.  Knowing Betty, she hasn’t found her rhythm yet for the fight, so she’s going to make some mistakes.

He seemed mad when he caught up to me in the middle of the ring.  He made a lot of grunting sounds as he threw punches that made whiffing noises in the air.  I had to parry a few of them, and he parried everything I threw at him as I darted in and out.

Then it happened, he guessed where I was going to move, he beat me there and delivered a left cross that sent me into the ropes.  The ropes are a terrible place to be, you can’t back out of the way and good boxer will keep you there and pummel the daylights out of you.  That was what was happening to me.  He was throwing combinations to my midsection and after one painful punch to a boob, I realized I couldn’t box my way out, so I grabbed onto him.

The referee broke us up and we returned to the center ring where we began the cat and mouse dance all over.  Again, he tried to guess where I’d move to, but this time he was wrong and when he turned to me, I popped him in the kisser with a right jab.  He backed into the ropes while shaking it off.  It was my turn to pound his middle like a kettle drum.  He couldn’t box his way out, but I couldn’t keep him on the ropes.  He slid into a corner.  Seeing an opportunity, I delivered an uppercut which has put many of my opponents down.  His head snapped back and then he lunged forward grabbing me in a bear hug to keep from hitting the mat.

Before the referee could step in to break us apart, the bell rang ending the round.  On the way back to my corner, my body told me this was going to be a long night.

I hope this more in-depth step-by-step review will encourage you to give 5150: Alien Fight Night or Friday Night Fights a go.  And in playing a game like this, let you imagination go put yourself in that film noir or the Larger Than Life game you’ve been wanting to play.

Also, knowing my luck, Two Hour Wargames will release a new version of the game soon making this post irrelevant.

No floozies were harmed in the making of this post, though the floozy did do a little shadow boxing in preparing this post – the judges awarded the round to my shadow.  As always, your comments, suggestions, criticisms, lavish gifts, and money are always welcome at Floozy Manor.

Breaking News

P.S. I played the rest of the game, here’s how the scoring went:

• Round1 was Split Decision 10-9 in Roid Roy’s favor
• Round 2 was a Unanimous Decision 10-9 Betty Caruso’s favor
• Round 3 was a Unanimous Decision 10-9 Betty Caruso’s favor
• Round 4 Betty Caruso, in top of round ahead by 20 points, scores a TKO

So what happened? Round 2 was long and grueling. Betty wasn’t doing too well, but then she got lucky. She injured Roid Roy by causing an eye to swell shut. That meant Roy lost one of his Boxing Dice for the rest of the match and without any Bonus Dice to make up for the lost Boxing Dice, Betty started to score more successes on the tables. Eventually, she threw a punch Roy couldn’t recover from on the Recovery Table.

If you’d like to see more of Alien Fight Night, check out these links:

• B and the Old Man
• B and the Half-Naked Blue Carnage
• B and the Rabbit Hole
• Alien Fight Night
• Southpaw Sally, a Figure Review
• B and the Golden Tassels – Part 1
• B and the Golden Tassels – Part 2