Games I bounced off – Labyrinth War on Terror

The next in the Games I bounced off series – this time Labyrinth: War on Terror. 

I started off my boardgaming in Warhammer and Necromunda, so wargames. I loved these games for their strategy and miniatures. Unfortnately, time makes a fool of us all and I no longer have time for miniature painting anymore and figured that a more ‘wargame’ wargame might actually scratch that itch. 

I was wrong..

I deduced from my plays of Labyrinth that I am definitely not a wargamer, or at least not a Labyrinth wargamer. 

labyrinth war on terror

Why I didn’t like it

The big thing that I really didn’t gel with was the use of flowcharts, I just couldn’t get my head around the idea that when I make a move I then have to follow a flow based on what the political climate is, or what else is going on around the map in order to determine what happens next. 

I play other games that I consider to be ‘heavy’ like Great Western Trail or Pax Pamir 2nd Edition, but it was something about those flowcharts that really got me and threw me off the game altogether. I have, admittedly, only played Labyrinth solo however I can’t begin to imagine how long it would go on at the 2 player count. 

The fact that the rule book is also laid out like a regional mueseum’s founding document also takes away from the game. There are limited pictorial examples and the text all seems to run into one another. Rather than being an experiential task I felt that it was more a research tasks to complete the rules document. 

Final remarks

These are merely my thoughts about why I don’t get on with this game, you might be someone who really likes the experience of engaging with charts for your strategy games and that is totally OK. After this game and with noone in my groups that play GMT wargames, I think that I might give them a miss for a bit. This allows me to try them again maybe with a more experienced hand who is able to show me the ins and outs. In the meantime, I think that I am going to play some more Warfighter by DVG, a much more approachable game for me. 

Cameron B Author

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