The Awakening expansion to Labyrinth was released in September, 2016, and added event cards and rules to cover the period 2010 through 2015.  It has been exciting for me as the designer to see player comments on-line as they explore the rules and test the Bots.  Many players commented that their goal in this exploration phase is to grasp the mechanics of the expansion while experiencing for the first time the effects of the near-current events included in the deck; in this exercise, game strategy is of secondary importance.  With approximately 50 Awakening games under my belt during design and play test, I decided write a brief article on strategic considerations as a primer for new players to consider as they advance their level of play.

Strategy involves the application of available resources to achieve stated objectives.  Player overall objectives are the Victory Conditions (VC), which remain unchanged from Labyrinth (2.0).  Resources include Event Cards in hand, Awakening, Reaction and other makers which provide modifiers to other game operations, and wooden pieces, the primary military units in the game. These resources are applied through the geographic constrains imposed by the map, so we will begin our discussion there.

Each side has three ways to win in Labyrinth, but the typical path to victory for both sides is called a Resource win.  The US player must have a number of Good countries totaling 12 or more Resource points, while the Jihadist can achieve the same with 6 Resource points at Islamist Rule, including two of these countries being adjacent.  Based on their beginning areas of strength, a quick look at the map reveals two geographic regions where both sides will typically start to try and control, with these two “Strategic Triangles” intersecting in the Gulf States.

“Strategic Triangles” in Labyrinth: Awakening

A US Resource strategy usually involves making Gulf States Good, then with the accompanying +1 bonus on War of Ideas (WOI – 7.2.1) for an adjacent Good Ally country, trying to do the same in Iraq and Saudi Arabia.  Success in all 3 of these countries will provide 9 of the 12 Resource points required for victory, with the other 3 possibly attainable in Egypt, Indonesia/Malaysia, or a combination of two other locations such as Algeria/Tunisia and Libya or Mali, or Turkey and Afghanistan for example.

A jihadist Resource strategy will start in Afghanistan, with its Auto Recruit capability (8.2.3), which allows the placement of Cells without the need for a success die roll, and then branch out to a full scale assault on Pakistan.  Once Pakistan goes IR, the Jihadist will have 3 WMD as available, and auto success recruiting there, with the ability to branch out adjacently either into Gulf States or Indonesia/Malaysia.  Toppling one of those 2 states will give 5 IR resources, with immediate victory coming from play of an Oil Price Spike event, which makes Oil Exporter Indonesia or Gulf States immediately worth 4 points, or by the creation of a Caliphate, which adds 1 resource at IR (11.3.8), or by taking out some other 1 point country, with Libya, Sudan, Somalia and Afghanistan sometimes becoming easy targets.

These initial geographic approaches of course assume a static board situation, which in Awakening, never is.  The placement of Awakening and Reaction markers, often times by random occurrences, will change the board situation regularly such that traditional paths to victory may be denied or become cost prohibitive, while other paths will present themselves for exploration and possible exploitation.  Additionally, ones opponent, whether human or Bot, will try to take away your hard earned success either through Regime Change (US) or Plots and Major Jihad (Jihadist).

Now that we know where we would like to go, how do we get there?  The primary resource of the game is the Event Cards.  These provide Operation Points or Event effects that help one achieve or deny their opponent the VC.  Players will begin their turn by drawing 7-9 event cards, based on their position on the Troops Track (US) or Funding Track (Jihadist).  A key objective is to try and maximize the number of cards you draw each turn in order to provide more options and operations.  Some cards will allow the drawing of additional cards, thus extending your turn.  The ability to play cards without an opponent’s response at the end of a turn can be decisive in a close game!

32 Event Cards allow for the placement or removal of Awakening and/or Reaction markers in the game expansion.  These markers largely represent the street protestors and other organizers that were so common in this period, and who indirectly helped or hindered the other operations in the game.  A difference of 2 or more markers in a Muslim country can cause it to slowly over time start shifting to one camp or the other through the Polarization rule (11.1.7).  In many ways, especially early in a scenario, the Awakening and Reaction markers are a currency that are more valuable in achieving one’s VC than Troops. Militia and Cells, so consider carefully before spending one of these card types for Ops.

Nevertheless, the wooden pieces are also instrumental in executing one’s strategy, especially in the late game.  With more of these pieces contained in the Awakening expansion (+5 Cells and +15 Militia), there are more options for their use.  In addition to fortifying areas from enemy activity (it takes 5 more Cells than Troops + Militia to launch a Major Jihad and 5 more Troops + Militia than Cells do perform WOI in a Regime Change country), these pieces are also the primary combatants in Civil Wars.  At the end of each turn, they inflict Attrition (11.2.5) casualties on the opposing side by rolling a die less than or equal to the number that are there.  If a side is not contesting a Civil War in strength, then that country may slide towards the opponent’s faction similar to Polarization above.  Try to dominate the Civil Wars when you can, and if unable to do that, at least maintain a contesting force in them to delay that country’s eventual fall until after you have already won the game!

So there you have it.  A brief primer on developing a Resource based strategy for either side in Labyrinth: Awakening.  In playtests of the Arab Spring one-deck tournament scenario, it was not uncommon to see players pursue this basic Resource strategy and win as the Jihadists by turn 4 or 5, or as the US in turns 6 or 7.  There are other paths towards victory of course and variations on this theme, but learning this simple approach will improve your game play in the maze!

Author: Trevor Bender