Breaking the Chains (BtC) simulates a hypothetical future military conflict over the South China and East China Seas around the year 2021. Conflicting claims of sovereignty have roiled those "near seas" since the Cold War. After decades of patient diplomacy, Beijing's new navy could offer military options for finally asserting sovereignty over prizes within the First Island Chain - that string of islands which runs from the Ryukus south through Taiwan, the Philippines and then curls back to the mainland via Malaysia. BtC presumes that China comes to blows with a Southeast Asian country in a conflict that could expand to possibly include: Australia, India, Japan, the United States as well as a variety of Southeast Asian nations. However, beyond China and one South East Asian nation, the exact composition of opposing coalitions is not predetermined but rather a function of the decisions players make as the game unfolds.