by MarcM, 23 March 2025
With the Troops marker in the War box and Jihadist Funding at Moderate, both sides start Turn 4 with 8 cards. I still find myself on the defensive against the Jihadist flowchart. War of Ideas is one of the main offensive tools the US has in Labyrinth and at best it’s not an easy success. With a negative DRM from low US Prestige, it’s a waste of Ops points. So, the best I can do for now is whittle away at cells and defend against Jihad.
Jihadist Card 1
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The first card of Turn 4 is Mossad & Shin Bet. It’s a US-associated card, but with no cells in Israel, Jordan, or Lebanon, the conditions aren’t met and so the event isn’t playable. Next, we check for the possibility of Major Jihad or of a Minor Jihad in a Good or Fair countries. Nothing possible there. To place cells, they must be available in the same Funding box as the Funding marker – in this case Moderate Funding. There are none, so cells aren’t available to place. Travel is up. Two Ops points mean two Travel attempts.
A country with a Besieged Regime marker is the first possibility. Since Somalia is a Besieged Regime, it’s the first target, and a cell attempts to Travel to Somalia. The flowchart indicates the adjacent country of Yemen is the source, and since its adjacent, success is automatic. The next cell travels to a Good or Fair country with cells adjacent. That’s the Gulf States and a die roll selects Iran as the source. Another roll indicates success.
Jihadist Card 2
Al-Ittihad al-Islami is next. It’s a playable non-US event that would place a cell in Somalia, but with no cells available in the box with the Funding marker, Radicalization occurs instead. The single Ops point automatically travels one cell. According to the Where flowchart, the cell travels to a country where Major Jihad is possible with two more cells. Since Potent Ideology only requires three more cells than troops for Major Jihad, there are five options. A die roll selects Central Asia as the destination and another roll selects Syria as the source. The cell in Syria Travels and the Gulf States are now primed for a Major Jihad.
US Card 1
I start the turn playing Safer Now to boost US Prestige back to Medium. That means no die roll penalties for War of Ideas. I also roll for US Posture, which switches to Hard. Finally, I change Great Brittain’s posture to Hard. That shifts the US GWOT Relations marker to 2 on the Hard scale. With US and World Posture both Hard, that’s another die roll penalty I won’t incur with War of Ideas.
US Card 2
I play FSB for the event. The instructions list cards the Jihadists must discard, but I don’t see any way to do this without seeing all the cards in the Jihadist hand. That doesn’t seem right. I might have this wrong, but I play the alternate event instead. I’ll remove a cell from the Gulf States. That works out well, Major Jihad is no longer possible there.
Jihadist Card 1
First draw is FREs. There are no troops in Iraq, so this is a non-playable Jihadist card. Major Jihad isn’t possible. The Gulf States are vulnerable to a Minor Jihad, so the single Ops point gives the Jihadists one roll and one chance. The cell goes active. They need a 2 or better but get a 3. The lone cell returns to the Funding Track after failing to start a Jihad.
Jihadist Card 2
Next is Moqtada al-Sadr. This is another non-playable Jihadist event. Major Jihad is still not possible and now that the last Jihad attempt failed, a Minor Jihad is not possible in Good or Fair countries. The Ops point goes to Recruit.
According to the flowchart, the Besieged Regime of Somalia is the first priority. A roll of 2 succeeds and under Potent Ideology we add two cells to Somalia.
US Card 1
Major Jihad is possible in Somalia now, and since it’s also a Besieged Regime, it’s very vulnerable to Islamist Rule. I play the US card Libyan WMD to Deploy four troops from Afghanistan to Somalia. Since Somalia is at Poor governance, it requires all 3 points. That makes a Major Jihad impossible unless more cells arrive. Two troops would have been enough, but I want a buffer in case of another Recruit.
US Card 2
Hopefully Somalia is shored up enough with troops, because I want to try to shift Saudia Arabia to Fair Governance. I play Pakistani Offensive for the 3 Ops points. With Prestige at medium and world and US posture both at Hard, there isn’t a negative modifier. Since there’s at least one adjacent ally, I’ll get a +1 DRM. I roll a 6 and succeed. Saudi Arabia is now a Fair ally.
Jihadist Card 1
Hariri Killed is a playable Jihadist event, so it occurs. We test Lebanon and the result is Poor. Syria is already an Adversary and at Poor governance. Thankfully it can’t worsen to Islamist Rule, so nothing happens there.
Jihadist Card 2
Detainee Release is another Jihadist event, but the US didn’t use Disrupt this turn, so it’s not playable. I removed a cell from the Gulf States, but that was by Event, so I don’t think it fills the prerequisite here. With Major Jihad and Minor Jihad not possible, we have Recruit attempts. As a Besieged Regime, Somalia is the first target. We roll a 1, so Recruit succeeds, placing two more cells in Somalia. There’s a lot going on in Somalia and it’s close to being vulnerable to a Major Jihad again, despite the Deploy operation from my last play.
By the Where flowchart, the second Ops point goes toward Radicalization and placement of a cell in a random country. The die roll selects Morocco. We roll for Initial Governance
US Card 1
I really want to sort things out in Somalia. I need a Disrupt operation and with the Country at Poor Governance that requires 3 Ops points. I don’t have any 3-point cards, so I play the unassociated Gaza Withdrawal to bank 1 Ops point in Reserves.
US Card 2
I play Hizballah for the 2 Ops points and add the Reserve point to conduct a Disrupt operation in Somalia. Since there are two active cells, I can remove them and since I have troops present, I can remove them both.
And, I get +1 Prestige, finally moving me into High Prestige.
Jihadist Card 1
Hambali is an unassociated card with an unplayable event. Major Jihad isn’t possible thankfully, but with Morocco at Fair governance and a cell in place, Minor Jihad is possible there. The sleeper cell goes active. A roll of 2 or less is necessary but we get a 4. The cell returns to the Funding track.
The other 2 Ops points go toward Radicalization. The first places a cell in a random country. We roll the US. That’s really bad for me since it opens the possibility of a weapon of mass destruction plot and immediate defeat.
The final Ops point Travels a cell. The Besieged Regime of Somalia is the destination, and a die roll selects Pakistan as the source. A roll of 3 or less is necessary. The roll is 2, so the Travel operation succeeds. Somalia now has 5 cells.
Jihadist Card 2
The final Jihadist card is Sanctions. This is a non-playable US event. That’s good on the surface. If it was playable the Jihadists would attempt to place a Plot in the US. Instead, we check for Jihad possibility. Major Jihad is not possible, and Minor Jihad isn’t possible in Good or Fair countries. Cells are available on the Funding Track, so a Recruit attempt takes place. By the flow chart, the attempt is in Somalia. A roll of 3 is necessary, but we get a 4, so Recruit fails.
US Card 1
I play Uyghur Jihad for the Ops point. It triggers a Jihadist event, but I want to Disrupt the cell in the US. I test China for Posture. A roll of 2 reveals Soft, so by the event, China gets a cell.
But I’m able to turn the Sleeper Cell in the US to Active, preparing it for removal.
US Card 2
My last card is Gaza War, another Jihadist event. I had planned to discard it, but I wonder if I need to remove the cell from the US immediately. If the Jihadists somehow manage to acquire a WMD plot, they’ll place it in the US. Left unresolved, the game ends. Getting a WMD plot seems unlikely, so I’m taking a gamble and discarding the card to keep US Prestige in place and funding at its current level. We’ll see what happens next turn with that US cell. There aren’t any plots to resolve, so turn 4 ends.
End of Turn
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
During Expenditures & Diplomacy, Jihadist funding drops a point to 4. Net World Posture moves down to 2 Hard with China testing as Soft. US Prestige remains in place. On the Victory Track, there are 3 Fair/Good Countries and 9 Poor Countries. There are no Good resources and no Islamist resources.
End of Turn Thoughts
I feel a little better coming out of Turn 4 than I did coming in. I was able to successfully complete a War of Ideas operation and gain a Fair Ally and finish the turn at High Prestige. And other than the troubling cell in the US nothing really bad happened. I’m not winning, but I’m trending in a better direction.
Labyrinth AAR – Let’s Roll
PART 1 ~ PART 2 ~ PART 3 ~ PART 4 ~ PART 5 ~ PART 6
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