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| BREAKING AWAY
|
by Fiendish Board Games
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( Board Game ) |
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An exciting cycle race board game for 3 to 6 players.
No dice.....no charts.....no tables.....no saddle soreness!
Each player controls a team of four cyclists of varying ability. The
object is to steer the team to the highest number of points gained over a
race which simulates a one-day event - or a day of a tour if you prefer.
The game is designed to be played in under an hour.
A Cerebral Bike Race
Review by Terry Goodchild
Breaking Away is just the sort of game
visitors to this web site should be playing whenever the opportunity of
gathering 3 to 6 games players around a table arises. It's ideal for
convention play too!
The Background
The game has an attractive laminated folding board, Movement Control
pad, a sheet of Sprint Point tokens, a brief rule book and six teams each
of four coloured plastic racing cyclists. In play it has much the same feel
as the classic Hare and Tortoise but turns that game's illogical
Movement Point allowance - based on the premise that it's better to be at
the back of the field - into the perfectly sensible concept in cycle racing
that attacking from a slipstreaming position is often the best tactic.
The Game
Breaking Away is really three races in one, for in completing
the 2.5 lap distance the first eight riders are awarded points as they pass
two Sprint 'finishes' before getting double points for the actual finishing
line. Much of the cerebral activity arises from the knowledge of the
imminent arrival of one of the stage finishes and, because there is no
random factor in the game except in so far as your opponents' moves are an
unknown quantity and can therefore severely upset your best laid plans, the
game should always be played with some agreement about the speed of play as
you could get a Scrabble-type situation in which Aunt Mary sits huddled over
her x, y, z tiles while the rest of you eat dinner!
Each player controls a team of four cyclists, secretly allocating the
Turn 1 Movement Allocation (30, 25, 20, 16 respectively for his four riders)
into 3 or 4 parcels no one of which must exceed 15. The Number 1 riders
of each team move in sequence, then the Number 2's, etc on this first Turn.
Thereafter movement is carried out from the front of the field backwards.
The unused 'parcels' of movement are carried forward to the next Turn.
Replenishment of Movement Factors is then carried out based on the number of
riders ahead of you and not separated by an empty space plus 3.
Thus in an 18-rider field the rider at the end of a perfect echelon with no
gaps would pick up 20 points (17+3), while if he allowed a space to open up
between himself and the rider immediately in front he would get just 3.
There is also a Breaking Away Bonus the first Turn that a new leader
hits the front, and an interesting Optional Rule which extends this Bonus
based on the overall lead to the nearest rider from a rival team. You will
have gathered that tactics are all about the proximity of the Sprint Stage
finishes and the trade-off between the conflicting requirements of position
for points scoring and replenishing Movement Points, and of course allowing
a gap to open up somewhere ahead of you thus reducing dramatically your
allocation of Movement Points.
Summary
This is a game player's game needing a fair bit of thought and pre-planning
but with enough of the unknown and uncontrollable to prevent it becoming
purely an intellectual exercise. And for replay gamers it mimics the tactics
and feel of the sport closely enough to make this an interesting addition
to and diversion from their main collection.
Recommended! 
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BREAKING AWAY
- £17.95 GBP
|
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