New version of old classic much appreciated

Asymmetric abstract strategy games are both an unusual and interesting subgenre of games.

For those not familiar with the term, asymmetric by definition means ‘not identical on both sides’. So, unlike, for example, chess or checkers, which have both players having the same array of pieces, asymmetric games do not.

Probably the most recognizable of asymmetric games – at least within the board game fraternity- would be Hnefatafl, also known as The Viking Game, The King’s Table, or simply Tafl, which dates back to circa 400.

Interestingly, several older games employed an asymmetric array, including Bagh Chal and Fox & Geese, which one might surmise was by design, as learning battle tactics was important, and rare would be a battle with exactly equal forces.

Not surprisingly, through the years, an occasional new asymmetric game has popped up, including this week’s review game, Breakthru.

Breakthru is a vintage game dating back to 1965 from designed by Alex Randolph.

However, the copy of the game that The Meeple Guild has is a more recent edition from NewVenture Games.

Breakthru is a modern member of the Hnefatafl family of games.

In this case, one player commands a gold fleet consisting of one large flagship and 12 escorts, which has the objective of evading capture while trying to break through his opponent’s blockade in order to escort his flagship to safety.

The opponent, commanding a fleet of 20 ships, attempts to create a blockade and then surround the gold-laden ship on four sides to ‘capture’ the flagship and win the game.

Breakthru does offer some variety within a rather simple game.

For example, on a turn, a player can move up to two ships as a rook moves in chess, unless it’s the gold ship, then that player is restricted to moving only that one.

Or, on a turn, you can capture by moving one space diagonally, and only one capture is allowed per turn.

Capturing the gold carrier requires surrounding it with four ships; you don’t want to sink it and lose the goals.

Mechanically Breakthru works well – as long as you accept asymmetric games are not balanced. One side is at a disadvantage – although here it is not always clear who ‘should’ win.

As for the NewVenture Games edition, it’s really neat in terms of the little plastic ships, which seem to take one back to their youth – or maybe that’s just me realizing Breakthru was first released when I was five.

The board rolls up to fit in the box, but looks like water – that’s nice – and has start spots marked so it’s super simple to set up.

No asymmetric games are not for all, for example, Guilders Trevor and Adam were less enamoured with Breakthru, but yours truly has no qualms about recommending this one. I like it quite a lot.