Andy Wood

Todays battle events started off with map Gulf of Oman where a USMC Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) has landed on this Persian Gulf beach during the night in the hopes of quickly seizing the nearby MEC airbase.

The stakes are high for both sides. The Marines face possibly being driven into the sea and destroyed. The MEC forces could lose a key airbase and open the door for US forces to take strategic oilfields. Both sides have been using the morning to prepare for a final assault.

We then proceeded with the map rotation with Wake Island 2007 where in a surprise move, forces of the People’s Liberation Army have attacked and captured Wake Island in a bid to threaten US lines of supply.

USMC forces have been short-stopped from their deployment in Manchuria to respond to this new threat. The airbase on Wake Island is the lynchpin of the Chinese air threat, however it is highly susceptible to ground attack from either the northern or southern approaches of the island.

We were not done yet it was on to Sharqi Peninsula which just happens to be a vital position on the Persian Gulf as it possesses a TV station with a powerful transmitter, allowing it to aid propaganda support for the ongoing MEC campaign.

US Rapid Deployment forces have captured this coastal position and now face a determined counterattack by converging MEC forces. This lazy seaside resort of villas, markets and beach houses is about to become a modern battlefield as US forces attempt to hold on to their newly-captured communications prize.

Lastly we halted with Strike at Karkand where the ultimate goal is to control of the industrial facility and harbor at Karkand US forces, where they find MEC forces marshalling to defend the industrial city and determined to meet this attack with stiff resistance.

The terrain surrounding Karkand sufficiently opens to allow for sweeping fields of fire but the open ground increases the danger posed by anti-vehicle missiles and sniping. It is thus vital for both sides to secure firebases in Karkand’s sheltered city center.

It was doing a lot of swapping back and forth from medic to anti-tank.  I think my next unlock is going to be the PKM.  If you are interested, you can check out the gangs rating here.

The game portrays a hypothetical war in the near future between three powerful factions: the United States Marines Corps (USMC), China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA), and the fictional Middle Eastern Coalition (MEC). The battles, however, only feature USMC versus MEC and USMC versus China; the MEC and China are presumably allied, as they are never seen attacking each other. There is little background to the war aside from what can be gleaned from map briefings, and certain questions, such as why mutually assured destruction did not prevent the countries from attacking each other and if any of the countries retaliated using weapons of mass destruction, remain unanswered.

Unlike Battlefield 1942, the armies use modern weaponry: the Marines use well-known American weaponry such as the M1 Abrams tank and the M4 Carbine assault rifle, the Chinese use mostly Chinese-made copies of Soviet weapons such as the Chinese Type 56 Assault Rifle (though the game calls it an AK-47), and the Middle Eastern Coalition, which uses mostly Russian weapons.

Battlefield 2 Armored Fury is the second booster pack to be released for Battlefield 2. This is the first instance where the Chinese and MEC will fight the US on American soil. It will add 3 new maps, as well as two new vehicle classes: attack jets for close air support and reconnaissance helicopters that automatically locate enemies.

Operation Midnight Sun features the Chinese landing at the Alaskan port Valdez where they are trying to secure much needed fuel from the pipeline. Operation Roadrage is an MEC vs. USMC map, where the MEC are using US Highways to transport units to industrial areas.

The second MEC map sees the United States trying to stall the MEC on route to the capital, whilst waiting for reinforcements. EA has also confirmed vehicles such as the A-10 Thunderbolt II (part of the Attack Jet class) and the OH-6 Little Bird (as part of the recon helicopter class).