The Great Portal (WC2 Human)

The Great Portal is the fourteenth and final mission of the Alliance campaign in Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness.

Mission briefing
''The Orcs have been driven from the Northlands as the hulking remains of Blackrock Spire lay silent amongst the freed lands of Azeroth. The battered remains of the once mighty Horde have rallied to protect their last bastion of hope - the Great Portal. With Lord Lothar dead, you have been given the duty of leading the forces of Lordaeron to ultimate victory over the Horde - a victory that lies with the destruction of the Great Portal itself...''

Objective

 * Destroy the Great Portal

Background

 * Note: this account comes from the Official Strategy Guide, which features a first-person description of each mission from the game.

Before Milan's forces could make the final assault on the Great Portal, they needed to find flat ground to build a village on. Predictably, there were strong defenses at the closest available land, so the first task was to clear the way for a landing with their few warships. Knights, footmen, and archers were loaded onto transport ships and soon followed westward, for they would need to build quickly. A single destroyer swept past the shoreline to the west to draw out catapults, then all three regrouped to attack single targets and retreat. This they repeated until all but one tower remained on the shoreline; however, the destroyers had been sunk, and the battleship was taking on much water when they decided to make a landing. Knights and footmen hit the north beach first and engaged the waiting ogres, and as soon as there was room, the archers came next to take out the tower, and soon the area was secure enough to fetch the remaining units.

While building a town hall near the gold mine, their archers were lined up to bring down marauding dragons, and their two mages stayed safely behind to launch fireballs at the beasts as well. With this in mind, their next building priorities were farms, a barracks, and a lumber mill to train more archers. These would ensure the dragons were no longer a problem once they had a small army of them. The mine was quickly running out of resources, so they would soon need to claim another in the ogre village close by to the north. To clear the way, their growing number of archers were lined up behind farms and better-armored soldiers, and a single knight rode forth to bring the ogres into their arrow trap. Spies reported that three more dragons far to the east were watching for smoke on the horizon, so they ordered their troops not to level the foul orcish structures until they were fully prepared to greet them. A second hall went up near the new mine to speed the collection of the great wealth within. This would ensure their survival against the next enemy village to the east, for soon they could afford to call on the skills of elite elven rangers to train their existing archers in the ways of deadly accuracy. With these at their disposal, they began destroying the rest of the Horde structures and easily defeated the dragons that came too late. It was not long before they had two more barracks, a blacksmith, and a stable to add more muscle to their forces. The muscle came in the form of many knights and two ballistae, all with the best weapons and armor they could make for them. Several rangers and the mages were left behind for defense, while a stalwart army marched eastward to begin clearing out the orcs once more. Milan's commander ordered them to stand their ground just outside in standard formation of knights first, rangers behind, and ballistae in the rear. Their greatest danger was the death knights that cast horrible plagues in their midst, so their forces were spread out to minimize their damage, and several knights were kept moving to ride them down on sight. Once the defenders were mostly gone, demolition began once again while they hunted down any remaining enemies hiding nearby.

With a third mine and hall to collect gold, they then built four gryphon aviaries to claim the skies for themselves. Once they had a flight of eight in the air, these were sent out to wreak havoc on all the enemy ships in the waters surrounding the central island. In the meantime, a gnomish inventor supplied fearless dwarves with explosives to bomb a path through the narrow line of mountains north of the third mine. This was done to place a shipyard much closer to a supply of oil, and with the accompanying foundry and refinery, they could then produce transport ships for the assault on the island. Their growing mob of gryphon riders then concentrated on drawing the defending dragons and daemons away from their guard towers. Meanwhile, transports were loaded with knights and ballistae to do most of the demolition and slaughter on the island while the gryphons kept the skies clear. Workers were brought to set up a second shipyard on the inner ring of water, and by then the fate of the Orcish Horde was sealed. The glorious destruction of the Portal was followed with weeks of celebration.

Victory for the Alliance
''Quiet settles over the Black Morass with the blackened, burning remains of the cursed Portal serving as a solemn reminder of the evil that once stood here. After the long and savage battle, you stand victorious over the tattered remnants of the once mighty Orcish Hordes. Those Orcs that survived the conflict have fled to the northeast in hopes of escaping your vengeance. You allow them their reprieve, knowing that the power of the Horde has been forever broken and that the lands of Azeroth belong to its native sons and daughters once again.''

Aftermath
The Burning Blade clan was routed and ultimately destroyed by troops under the command of Uther the Lightbringer during the battle.

Forces

 * Alliance of Lordaeron
 * Footmen
 * Archers
 * Rangers
 * Knights
 * Paladins
 * Ballistae
 * Mages
 * Demolition Squads
 * Flying machines
 * Gryphon riders
 * Warships


 * Orcish Horde
 * Grunts
 * Axethrowers
 * Berserkers
 * Ogres
 * Ogre magi
 * Catapults
 * Death knights
 * Sappers
 * Zeppelins
 * Dragons
 * Warships
 * Daemons