Breaking the Chains: War in the South China Sea

About this board game

Breaking the Chains: War in the South China Sea is a 1–10 player simulation of a hypothetical military conflict around the South and East China Seas, with games lasting up to 1,200 minutes. Set around 2021, it explores how a confrontation between China and a Southeast Asian nation could expand to involve Australia, India, Japan, the United States, and other Southeast Asian countries.

The opposing coalitions are not fixed in advance. Instead, player decisions determine which nations become involved as the conflict unfolds. Up to 14 nations can maneuver air, ground, and naval forces across a 22″ × 34″ map, where each hex covers roughly 70 nautical miles, or 80 land miles, and each turn represents one day.

Players use a universal strike system to resolve combat between different types of units. Missile defense is central to survival, while air units represent approximately 30–90 aircraft, most ground units represent regiments, and naval counters depict small groups of surface ships or submarines and individual aircraft carriers.

• Specialized chits model black ops, cyber warfare, and political developments.
• Naval operations use a roll-to-evade model rather than search-to-find movement.
• Enemy positions are generally known because of the electromagnetic environment, except for motionless submarines, unless a last-minute roll allows a target to evade detection.

This approach removes hidden movement that might hinder solitaire play, and submarine hidden placement can be omitted. Black-ops chits may also be played randomly, making Breaking the Chains suitable for solo play as well as multiplayer conflict simulation.