Armored Shield

Armored Shield is a map featured in the Battlefield 3: Armored Kill expansion pack. It is set in the outskirts of Sanoy, Russia.

Overview
Armoured Shield mainly consists of rural farms, hills and a few small settlements. It is bordered by a river, and a plateau just out of bounds. Several windmills stand on the plateau—reminiscent of "Heavy Metal" from Battlefield: Bad Company 2. Electric towers carry through the map.

It is a great map for Tank Superiority due to its large open fields. The flag which holds the AC-130 is called Antenna. The open fields offer large targets for AC-130's and potential for a lot of kills.

Conquest
The Conquest Large variant uses the same boundary and flags, differing only by the number of vehicles available. Conquest Large also adds a tank and RHIBs for river travel.

The map is very symmetric, with the gunship flag on one side and a pair of flags on the other. The river is a bit too deep to be crossed by light vehicles, often resulting in occupants being stranded in the water while their vehicle rolls away.

At the deployment, each team has access to two quad bikes, two tank destroyers, an anti-air vehicle, a scout helicopter, and an attack helicopter. Conquest Large provides three light jeeps instead of quad bikes, and two more tank destroyers per side.

Flag A: Treatment Plant
Four buildings sit by the river near the US deployment, with two bridges to cross. When captured, a mobile artillery vehicle and two quad bikes appear in the yard.

[Conquest Large] A RHIB and light jeep also spawn here.

Flag B: Antenna
A mid-sized antenna mast stands next to three concrete buildings. Rock mounds erupt in several places, providing some permanent vertical terrain.

The team who control this are given control of the AC-130. Two of the windmills may block shots when the gunship passes through the south. The gunship completes a circle every 2&frac12; minutes.

[Conquest Large] A second quad bike spawns at the flag. Another quad bike appears to the south inside a shed, regardless of flag ownership.

Flag C: Farm
The few structures here are surrounded by wide fields. Aside from helping ticket bleed, this map is not strategically significant and is easily pummeled from afar.

[Conquest Large] A light jeep and a quad bike spawn here.

Flag D: Village
Concrete walls enclose many of the areas around this flag, though the flag itself is in a more open area to the north. A small water tower serves as the high point. The river passes by here, continuing on to both outer flags and both deployments.

[Conquest Large] A tank and a light jeep will spawn here instead of the quad bike.

Flag E: Repair Shop
A single bridge links the two developed areas. The flag side of the river contains many shade structures and a partially enclosed set of buildings. The other side of the river has a large rock formation, another set of buildings, and the Russian deployment shortly beyond. Mobile artillery and a quad bike spawn here.

[Conquest Large] A RHIB and light jeep also spawn here.

Rush
The Americans charge into southwestern Russia to clear an artillery base firing into the Caspian region.

With a mobile artillery system at their disposal, the Americans have another excellent option for bombardment. An experienced operator need not leave deployment to aid the attack.

Stage 1
The Russians must first defend their assets at the Treatment Plant. Objective A is in the lone building away from the river, while B is in the middle building by the river. Attackers may use the watercraft shed to walk into the building after blowing out one of the walls.

Stage 2
Attackers now push towards the Village across a wide field of farmland. Their artillery truck will now spawn on the larger bridge at Treatment Plant.

Objective A is in the center of the village, and B is in the middle building by the river. Attackers can breach the walls surrounding both stations using their considerable arsenal.

Stage 3
A third base is revealed at the Repair Shop. Objective A is just outside one of the roadside buildings, while B is inside facing out to pasture.

Stage 4
Attackers push across the bridge, artillery base in site. Objective A is at the building by the road fork, and B is uphill, closer to base.

Tank Superiority
The flag is near an electric tower, in the middle of a very huge field by Farm, with few trees dotting the far sides. Its capture radius is 25 meters. Craters blown into the ground are the only terrain cover available next to the flag.

US spawns from Treatment Plant while Russia spawns from Repair Shop.

Team Deathmatch
The combined Village/Farm area is the field of combat. While there aren't many places to gain a height advantage, there are plenty of walls to demolish.

Trivia

 * It is the only multiplayer map in Battlefield 3 to take place in Russia so far.
 * This map is very similar the the campaign mission "Rock and a Hard Place".
 * There is a hidden garden gnome at the village flag D on some boxes.
 * There are several destroyed M1A2 Abrams tanks and M142 HIMARS scattered between the Treatment Plant and the rest of the map. They still glow bright under thermal imaging, allowing working vehicles to blend in under MAV or gunship observation.
 * This is the only Armored Kill map that doesn't feature Jets.
 * There is a large U.S. fleet outside the map, including an Essex-class assault ship. This cannot be seen from ground level due to the ridge at the edge of the map. It is past the windmills and can only be seen from the air.
 * There are signs at the Farm which are written in both English and Persian but not in Russian when the map is set there.
 * This is one of two console maps to spawn a LAV-AD the other being Wake Island 2014.