Tuesday, November 10, 2015

Balboa vs. Creed; Friday Night Fights Match



With the movie Creed only weeks away, I decided to run a FNF match with my Renegade Boxing League Champion Rocky Balboa defending against Apollo Creed.  This is actually the third time these two faced off in my game.  In the first (using 1st. Edition FNF rules), Rocky won the RBL Title by KO.  In the second (played under 2nd. ED rules), Rocky also won by KO.  This match was once again played using the most-recent rules, but with a couple of house rules as well, including fighting styles, which influenced when they use Bonus Dice.

And now the match:

Rocky wore his signature black and gold trunks, while Apollo wore his red,white, and blue trunks.  Both had trained hard and were treating this match very seriously.

Round 1:

 Balboa started by lunging right into Creed's face, but Creed backed off, circled Balboa, and started unloading with punches,  After 2 minutes of jabs and crosses, Creed sent Balboa to the mat with a powerful cross at 2:29.  Balboa made it to his feet at 6 and the two circled each other in the closing moments of the match.

Winner:  Creed 10-8 U

Round 2:

Both men took things slower in this match, with Creed attempting to frustrate Balboa with jabs and dodges.

Winner:  Creed 10-9 S

Round 3

Here's where things got interesting!  Creed unleashed an assault that sent Balboa crashing to the mat at 1:05.  Balboa stood at the count of 4, and Creed continued with his attack.  He drove Balboa into the ropes and started throwing jab after jab.  But when he swung a hook, Balboa ducked and counted with an uppercut that stumbled the challenger.  Balboa then rushed forward with a hook that sent Creed to the mat at 2:10.  Creed barely made it to his feet by 9, and even then, he had trouble standing!

Winner:  Balboa 10-9 U (I decided both KD's cancelled each other out and scored the match by everything else.)

Round 4:

Creed, who was still shaken from the previous round, spent the next few minutes doing his best to avoid Balboa, while the champ managed to land only a few weak shots.

Winner:  Balboa 10-9 S

Round 5:

Getting his second wind, Creed went ballistic and quickly dropped Balboa to the mat (0:43).  Once the champ got to his feet at 8, Creed drove him again into the ropes, but he walked right to a cross-hook combo that caught him off guard.  The champ unloaded and drove Creed to the mat at 2:47.  The challenger managed to stand at 8, but he was still shaken.

Winner:  Creed 10-9 U (Creed got ahead on points with his opening salvo.)

Round 6:

Creed lunged forward and rocked (no pun intended) the champ with multiple strikes, eventually opening a cut above Balboa's eye.  Balboa managed to shrug off the assault though and fight back.  He then drove Creed into the corner and unloaded a series of punches to the ribs that caused the challenger to fold like an accordion at 2:46.  While he made it to his feet, Creed was in bad shape.

Winner:  Balboa 10-7 U

Round 7:

While the two exchanged punches, no one could gain an advantage.  Creed was visibly favoring his ribs though.

Winner:  Creed 10-9 S

Round 8:

Creed tried to gain an early advantage, but he got overconfident and drove Balboa again into the ropes, only for the champ to fight back and send Creed tumbling again at 1:26.

Winner:  Balboa 10-8 U

Round 9:

The round started at a slow pace, with the two exchanging weak punches.  Calling up some reserve strength, Balboa overpowered Creed, and sent him again to the mat at 2:18.  But to everyone's astonishment, Creed leaped to his feet at 3!  Unfortunately, he didn't have enough to fight back the rest of the round.

Winner:  Balboa 10-8 U

Round 10:

Exhaustion set in big time as the two spent the entire round circling each other and throwing weak punches.  Some stupid fans began yelling, "Boring!"  Disgusted, Paulie shouted back, "Let's see you jerk-off's get in here and face these guys!"  Even Creed's corner applauded Paulie for that one.  

Scoring:  10-10 E

Round 11:

Both fighters were still tired, but Creed managed to land some punches while Balboa managed to avoid some.

Winner:  Creed 10-9 S

Round 12:

Trying for a KO, Creed unloaded with everything he had left.  Balboa shook the damage off, dug deep, and blasted the challenger with everything he had left.  With only seconds left on the clock, Creed clinched Balboa to avoid another knockdown.

Scoring:  10-10 E

Final Judges' Decision:  

Winner and Still RBL Champion:  Rocky Balboa (114-111 Split Decision).


Overall, another brutal match between the two.  Creed has definitely become more aggressive since his death at the hands of Ivan Drago, while Balboa continues to take on and defeat all comers.

This match was played using Friday Night Fights 2nd. Round from Two Hour Wargames.  If you like boxing, and you're looking for a tabletop version of the game, I highly recommend this over pretty much everything else out there.  If you order it now, you can hopefully get it just in time for Creed!

Note:  Rocky characters are not included with the game, but you can find unofficial stats for them here:






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