Below you will find the third in a four part article series from Elihu Feustel featuring a Labyrinth: The Awakening turn-by-turn playthrough. If you would like to read the first two parts in the series, those can be found here. Enjoy!
Turn 3
Jihadist Hand: 8 cards are drawn with a funding of 6.
Gulf Union is very bad for the Jihadist. With a civil war in Syria, 4 militia would likely be deployed there. Civil Resistance is also terrible, netting the US player 2 awakening markers. Fracking hurts, but it tends to lower US prestige, Oil Spike has not been played yet. Advisors is bad also, tending to turn civil wars into quagmires with neither side winning the war. Facebook is brutal, netting up to 3 awakenings. Fortunately, none of the 3 smartphones are in play. Facebook must be played in the first cycle to avoid a US smartphone play.
US Hand: At low intensity deployment, 9 cards are drawn.
The US has 3 Jihadist events. Unconfirmed is safe to play for now, as none of those leaders are yet in the Removed pile. US atrocities is very bad during a civil war, and all but guarantees that country (Syria) will eventually go jihadist. Fortunately, it is not playable until the US deploys troops into that war, so it is safe to play. The US may face a tough choice on whether it wants to play Jihadist Videos later or hold/discard it.
Offensive, the US has a lot of Civil War options. UNSCR 1973 allows militia to inflict double damage during attrition (as a functioning US troop), and Al-Nusra front can remove excess cells from Syria.
Gulf States has both Aid and an Awakening, giving it +2 on WOI rolls (and -1, for trying to improve governance to good). If there is no prestige penalty, a roll of 4 or higher would make Gulf States Good.
Jihadist Actions 1-2
If the US has smartphones, he could it in the first action cycle. The Jihadist must play Facebook before the US has this opportunity. We would like to recruit with Facebook, but he is limited to 10 cells until his funding improves. He opens with Civil Resistance for 2 Ops, using it to plot (and first plot to avoid the US event). His goal is to simply get funding, so he attempts 2 plots in Syria. With rolls of 1 and 6, 1 plot succeeds, and he places a plot 2. He then plays Facebook for 3 ops, plotting twice in Syria and once in Pakistan (to possibly destroy the aid). A 2 and 3 place 2 plot 1s in Syria a 3 fails to plot in Pakistan.
US Actions 1-2
With no pending crisis, the US can focus on nation building in Gulf States. The US plays Sellout for 2 ops and attempts a WOI against Gulf States. On WOI rolls to improve governance, a 5 or 6 succeed. There is +1 for aid, and +1 for the awakening and -1 for attempting to improve to good governance once he achieves an alliance. A 3 fails and does not even place aid (because there is already one there). US atrocities is played for 3 ops, and he tries WOI on Gulf States again. It succeeds with a 6. The aid and awakening marker are removed and Gulf States Flips to Good. When a country flips to good, a country is randomly selected using chart 11.3.9, and an awakening is placed there. With a roll of 4 (tan), 1, Egypt is selected and receives an awakening. As it was unmarked, Egypt is tested. With a 2, its governance starts at poor.
At the end of the action cycle, 3 plots resolve. The Jihadist funding increases from 6 to 9.
Jihadist Actions 3-4
He plays Fracking to recruit 3 cells in Syria automatically. The Fracking marker is placed, which lowers Jihadist funding an extra point until an oil spike is played. The US player should have rolled Prestige and drawn a card from the play of Fracking, but this was missed. In cases like this, players do not go back and try an correct these oversights…play-on. The one militia in Syia raises the cell requirement to 6 before a Jihad may be attempted, so he plays advisors to recruit a 6th cell. Next cycle, he can Jihad!
US Actions 3-4
The US plays Al-Nusra Front on the civil war. This equalizes the number of cells and militia, so 5 cells are removed from the Civil War. He then plays UNSCR 1973 as an event in Syria. The last cell is removed from Syria, and the event marker is placed there.
Jihadist Actions 5-6
The last turn was an immense set back. Quagmire is played for 3 ops, and NPT Safeguards Ignored for 2 more ops to recruit 5 cells in Syria
US Actions 5-6
The US could play offense and begin WOI in Iraq or Pakistan (and gain the benefit of their Gulf States ally). Or, he could play defense in Syria. If the US player has an anchor and is not close to winning, defense is usually the higher priority.
The US could disrupt in Syria, and gain prestige. With only 1 troop present (from UNSCR 1973), only 1 cell would be affected. A different way to defend is to improve the governance in Iraq, which is multi-purpose. If Syria does flip, Iraq will be less susceptible (and possibly a future base to support WOI after a regime change.)
The US plays Unconfirmed for 3 Ops. The event does not trigger, as none of those leaders are in the Removed pile. He targets Iraq with a WOI and is +1 for the Gulf States alliance at Good. A 4 improves Iraq to Fair. Agitators is played for 2 Ops to WOI Pakistan, which needs a 3 to move to Ally (+1 for Aid, +1 for Good ally adjacent, and awakening and reaction negate each other). A 2 fails.
Jihadist Actions 7-8
Regional al-Qaeda is played to recruit 3 more cells in Syria. With 8 cells, vs 1 militia and 1 troops, a Jihad is possible. Gulf Union is played for 3 Ops, using the Ops before the event. HE attempts a Major Jihad in Syria, and rolls a 2, 3, 3. The Jihad succeeds, and there are no cell losses. Syria flips to Islamist State, and the markers for Civil War, Militia and UNSCR 1973 are removed. Funding would go up 2, but it is already at the maximum of 9. Finally, a random Muslim Country is selected to receive a reaction. With a roll of 5, 5, chart 11.3.9 dictates that Afghanistan receives a reaction. The Jihadist also gets 2 WMDs from Syria.
US Actions 7-8
With all the Jihadist cells, in play, Jihadist Videos can be played with less consequences than normal (testing and cadre will still appear, but no cells).
Ayman al-Zawahir could be played for 2 ops and attempt a WOI on Pakistan. This would make an alliance a 3-6 (+1 for aid, +1 for adjacent good governance). Or, the event could be played to increase prestige and decrease Jihadist funding 1 each. Both are reasonable alternatives; he chooses WOI. With a 3, Pakistan shifts to Ally. He plays Friday of Anger for the event and places an Awakening in Afghanistan. This is a defensive play. The risk of Afghanistan falling is that Central Asia falls later, giving 5 resources to the Jihadist. This is the most direct path of victory for the Jihadist, and an awakening in an allied country makes that much more difficult.
US Action 9
He could hold Jihadist Videos until next turn, discard it, or play it. He chooses to play it for 3 Ops, doing a WOI on Egypt. Egypt is a valuable country in its own, and a strong blocking point late game. Having an alliance there makes it easier to defend later. A 2 fails in the WOI.
The Jihadist selects Yemen, Nigeria and Philippines for testing. Yemen tests at poor, and the other two test (rolling a 6, 6) at Hard! This is bad luck for the US. With both going Hard, the US GWOT shifts to Soft 1, and the US will not get prestige this turn.
At the end of the turn, the US loses 1 prestige down to 3 due to Syria being an Islamic State. The Jihadist funding drops 2 to 7 (due to Fracking).
It was probably a US mistake to play Ayman al-Zawahir for ops. If it were played for the event, the Jihadist funding would be 6, and he would draw 1 less card this turn.
At the end of turn 3, the board is shown below:
In Two Weeks: Labyrinth: The Awakening Playthrough — Turn 4
Previous Articles from Elihu Feustel:
Labyrinth: The Awakening – An Introduction (Part 1 of 2)
Labyrinth: The Awakening – An Introduction (Part 2 of 2)
“No Plan Survives Contact”: Playing Labyrinth: The Awakening (Part 1)
“No Plan Survives Contact”: Playing Labyrinth: The Awakening (Part 2)
Author: Elihu Feustel
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