Breaking The Chains 2.0

Breaking The Chains 2.0

Breaking the Chains (BtC) simulates a hypothetical future military conflict in the South and East China Sea around the year 2021. Conflicting claims of sovereignty have roiled these "near seas" since the Cold War. After decades of patient diplomacy, Beijing's new navy could be presented with military options for finally asserting control over the prizes within the First Island Chain – that chain of islands running from the Ryukyu south through Taiwan, the Philippines and then turning back toward the mainland via Malaysia. BtC assumes that China comes into conflict with a Southeast Asian country, in a conflict that could expand and possibly include: Australia, India, Japan, the United States as well as a number of Southeast Asian nations. However, beyond China and a Southeast Asian nation, the exact composition of the opposing coalitions is not predetermined, but rather a function of the decisions players make as the game unfolds.

Two or more people play BtC with two reference cards, dice and about 350 counters on a 22« Χ 34» map where each hex covers about 70 nautical miles (80 land miles) and each turn represents one day of real time. Players alternate air, land and naval units for up to 14 nations to resolve battles with a universal "strike" mechanism applied to all types of combat- missile defense capabilities are central to survival. Air units represent 30–90 aircraft each, most land units are regiments and naval units are small groups of surface ships/submarines or individual aircraft carriers. Specialized chit play simulates covert operations, cyberwar and various political developments.

BtC is also characterized as solitaire. The naval operations that dominate the game are based on the roll-to-evade model rather than the search-to-find model. This means that, due to a battlespace saturated with electromagnetic emissions, enemy positions – except for stationary submarines – are considered known, unless a last-minute roll determines that a possible target has escaped detection. Thus, there is no "hidden movement" that would stifle the solitaire nature and the "hidden placement" of submarines can be omitted. Finally, the special chits governing covert operations can be played randomly to further allow solo play.

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