Guest Post by Chris Buhl

Chris is exploring the game for the 2nd time. You will notice some refined play and thoughtful choices as we dig into another excellent solo session of Phantom Fury.

The 1st of the 3rd moved into its starting positions and experienced an eerie sense of quiet, and for some dread. Minimal movement or shooting by the enemy as they entered the Jolan district was initially a relief, but some of the veteran Marines were worried. This was a hot insurgent district, what tricks lay in store for them if the enemy made virtually no effort to repel them from the first neighborhoods they entered?
[My starting activation rolls were crazy lucky – 1 martyr and 3 guerrillas occupying a total of 3 zones. After my first bashing by the game system, I’ll take it].

T1
The captain watch as his men began the operation. Squads in empty zones that could expect to move roof to roof moved up topside. Squads with CAT support sat tight at ground level, waiting for targets to reveal themselves. And in three areas, squads moved into position to assault known insurgents. Time was of the essence, the Captain was pleased to see that his squads remained mostly intact for their initial push, only one deployed security elements, and that was the hottest zone on the map.

[One guerrilla unit was killed in the only effective assault, 1 was able to retreat move, 1 martyr remained.]

T2
The Captain realized he had made a mistake deploying his CAAT support, leaving the company’s right flank without much fire support, while they had the toughest initial resistance. He thought about what type of support mission to call in, and wondered when his armor support would be on scene. Even with limited gunship support, he called in a Cobra to clear out a hot enemy zone. He watched with satisfaction as Hellfire rockets pounded the enemy position. Meanwhile, an eye in the sky clarified the position for the squads on the left flank.
[A Super Cobra took out the guerrillas and rooftop suspects in Zone 11, hoping to help the initial push get started quickly. Dragon Eye revealed total of 1 guerrilla in each Zones 14/15.]
The Captain saw two rockets fire wildly, cursing the wasted ammo. He knew squads were about to expose themselves crossing open streets. But he watched with pride as his Marines carried out picture perfect assaults, killing two guerrillas and clearing 4 zones.
[Continued rolls for dummy units on activation are helping quite a bit here. I can’t imagine that won’t regress to the mean].
About 30 minutes into the operation, the Captain was happy with how his company was performing. Still, they had yet to lose any of their own. ‘How they handle that when it happens, and it will, will say a lot about how well I’ve prepared my Marines,’ he thought.