by MarcM, 16 March 2025
Turn 3 begins with the US struggling to keep up with the spread of Jihadist cells. There’s only a handful of Fair governance counties on the Victory Track, no Good and lots of Poor. That means I’m not doing well. On the bright side, there are no countries under Jihadist Rule. The other good thing is I’m not having to refer to the rules as much. I’m making mistakes, sure. I correct them when I can but sometimes, I catch them too late, and I just have to keep plowing ahead. So, I’m doing that now and starting Turn 3. With Troop levels and Jihadist funding where they are, both sides get eight cards instead of 9.
Jihadist Card 1
most images can click to enlarge
Iraqi WMD is the first card of Turn 3. This is a playable US event, so the Ops points go to Plots. Going down the Where flow chart, the first viable target is a non-Muslim country with at least one cell. There are two with cells available, Scandinavia and Great Britain. A random die roll selects Great Britain. Great Britain has Good governance, so the Plot needs a 1 to succeed. The cell goes active, but three die rolls deliver 3, 4, and 6 and the attempt fails. Unlike a failed Jihad, the cell remains. It also remains active so it’s vulnerable to Disrupt and removal.
Jihadist Card 2
Libyan Deal is a non-playable US event since neither Syria nor Iraq are US allies. Major Jihad isn’t possible, but a Minor Jihad is possible in Good or Fair countries with a cell. Syria, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Yemen each have at least one cell, but only Syria is above Poor governance and none are receiving Aid. Only Syria at Fair governance is a target. The sleeper cell in Syria goes active and we roll three dice since this is a 3 card. At Poor governance, a 2 is necessary. A 2, 3, and a 4 generate a success, so Syria degrades to Poor governance.
US Card 1
I don’t have a great hand. Lots of Jihadist cards. Not all the events are playable, but several are, so this might be a tough round.
Probably the best I have is Quartet and I play it for the event. Abbas is active, which makes Quartet playable. US prestige is at a minimum and Quartet boosts it to 3.
It also drops Jihadist Funding to 3. If it stays there the Jihadists only get 7 cards next hand.
US Card 2
I play Quagmire to disrupt the remaining cell in Afghanistan. That will allow me to remove some of the troops. War of Ideas would be nice somewhere but with a -1 for low Prestige and -1 for the difference between US and world Posture, the chances of any success are slim. Using the Ops points means the event triggers. I have to discard cards and suffer any playable Jihadist events from them, but I don’t have a lot of options.
Well, that didn’t work. I discarded 2 random cards. One, HEU, isn’t playable, so nothing happens. However, Islamic Jihad Union adds two cells, one in Central Asia and one in Afghanistan. Afghanistan, where I just removed a cell.
Jihadist Card 1
Jihadist Videos is the draw. As a playable non-US event, the event triggers. We select, Test and Recruit in three countries without cells. Normally, with funding Tight and no cells available in that section of the Funding Track, we wouldn’t place cells, but this event ignores Funding. Since the Jihadists are at Potent ideology, Recruit successes place two cells instead of one. If I’m reading the flow chart correctly, we pick the countries at random.
The first roll is the Caucasus region. The Test results in Hard posture. The Recruit roll fails but places a Cadre marker, allowing future Recruit attempts. Iraq is the next country. It’s already at Poor, so no Test is necessary. Another failure and another Cadre marker. Libya is the final country, and it’s also already Tested as Poor. A roll of 3 succeeds and two sleeper cells appear in Libya, leaving it vulnerable to Jihad and Plots.
Jihadist Card 2
The second card of the phase is Amerithrax. It’s another playable non-US event. This event requires me to discard my highest-value US cards. That’s Ethiopia Strikes. The event isn’t a loss. It’s not playable anyway, but losing the 2 Ops points is unfortunate. And this is the third card I’ve had to discard this turn.
US Card 1
Of the three cards I have, I can really only use two of them. The third triggers a Jihadist event that places four Plots. I plan to discard that one. So, I effectively have two cards. I’d like to move another country from Poor to Fair governance with War of Ideas, but I still have a -2 modifier and little chance of success. Instead, I’ll remove a cell. I play Biometrics for the Ops point. That’s enough to finally remove the active cell from Great Britain.
US Card 2
I play Bhutto Shot. This is a Jihadist event, but I need one of the Ops points. If I’m reading the rules correctly, I can only affect one cell once. There’s a sleeper cell in Scandinavia but I think I can only turn it active. I can’t use 1 point to make it active and 1 to remove it. Still, that’s better than nothing. The cell in Scandinavia goes active.
Jihadist Card 1
The Jihadists have four cards left. Abu Sayyaf is the first draw. It’s a Jihadist event that places cells. There are no cells in the Tight funding section to place, and the event doesn’t overrule the restriction this time so it can’t happen. The points go to Radicalization.
The first point Travels a cell to Central Asia, a country that’s eligible for Major Jihad if it gains two more cells. There’s one cell there now. Since ideology is Potent and there are no troops, a total of three cells makes Major Jihad possible. Going down the flow chart we randomly select Afghanistan as the source. A cell moves to the Central Asia.
The final Ops point places two Plots in the Gulf States, randomly selected by die roll.
Jihadist Card 2
Jaysha al-Mahdi is the second draw. There aren’t any Shia-Mix countries with troops and cells, so this isn’t a playable event. There are no countries eligible for Major Jihad, but Minor Jihad is possible in five. A die roll selects Central Asia. With an Ops value of 2, we roll 2 dice. The Jihadists need 3 for success but they get two 5s. The Jihad attempt fails.
US Card 1
I just have one card, Martyrdom Operation. If I play it for the 3 Ops points, it triggers 2 new Plots. There are already two Plots on the board, and I don’t want two more to give an additional boost to Funding. I discard Martyrdom Operation.
However, there are still the Plots to resolve in the Gulf States. The first Plot has a value of 1 and the second a value of 2. Jihadist funding moves from 3 (Tight) to 6 (Moderate).
Jihadist Card 1
Former Soviet Union is the draw. Working down the flow chart, this event triggers.
Central Asia is already at Poor Neutral, and it rolls as Poor governance, so no change at all.
Jihadist Card 2
Kurdistan is the final card. As a non-US card, the event triggers. Turkey is already Poor governance, but we retest it. It gets Poor again. The event also worsens the governance of Turkey or Iraq. They’re both already at Poor and can’t move to Islamist Rule, so in effect, nothing happens with this card
This is the latest episode in a running playthrough of Labyrinth from GMT Games; you can find the links to all published episodes at the end of article, with new installments each Sunday
End of Turn
I have no US cards left to play. A bit of luck that the Jihadist side had three more cards than me but they didn’t result in anything. In the Expenditures & Diplomacy phase, Funding drops a point. It’s now 5, still Moderate. There are no Islamist Rule countries to decrease Prestige, and the Net World Posture doesn’t increase US Prestige, so it remains low at 3. Victory Track Markers show zero Good or Islamist resources, 1 Fair country and 8 Poor countries.
End-of-Turn Thoughts
Things aren’t any better for the US. But we’ve got more hands to turn it around. I see how the Solo bot plays, so not only do I not need to refer to that flow chart nearly as much (the What part at least; the Where part is still vague to me), I know the priorities: Jihad, and if not, move in cells for Jihad or hatch plots to keep Funding up. That would’ve been good to figure out when I could do something about it, but it helps with strategy for the future.
Labyrinth AAR – Let’s Roll
PART 1 ~ PART 2 ~ PART 3 ~ PART 4 ~ PART 5 ~ PART 6
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