Siege of Vanguard (WC2 Human)

Siege of Vanguard
Location	Vanguard, Hellfire Peninsula
Result	Alliance Expedition victory
Belligerents   Alliance Expedition   Horde of Draenor Shattered Hand clan Thunderlord clan Bonechewer clan
Commanders and leaders   Alliance Expedition Turalyon Khadgar Alleria Windrunner Danath Trollbane Kurdran Wildhammer   Horde of Draenor Unknown Horde commander
Casualties and losses   Alliance Expedition Heavy   Horde of Draenor Very heavy
Previous	The Heart of Evil
Next	Dance of the Laughing Skull
Alternate level	Alterac

This article contains lore taken from Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness, Warcraft II: Beyond the Dark Portal, the manuals, and/or official bonus maps.

Siege of Vanguard is the tenth mission of the Alliance campaign in Warcraft II: Beyond the Dark Portal.

Mission briefing

Although the Fortress of Ner'zhul has been destroyed and the Death Knights scattered, neither the Shaman nor the Book of Medivh has been found. As Khadgar and Turalyon use their magiks to search the ruins for some clue as to the location of the mystic tome, a Gnomish flying machine descends, bringing news from the Hellfire Peninsula and the Portal.

A multitude of Orcs have laid siege to the fortifications at Hellfire. Although the attacking warriors are not well equipped, their sheer numbers may spell the downfall of our forces there.

You must take command of the Alliance armies at Hellfire and break the siege before our troops are pushed back through the Dark Portal. We must withstand their charge long enough for the Book of Medivh to be recovered and the rift forever sealed.

Objectives

• Hold out until the besieging Orcs retreat
• All your Heroes must survive the siege

Forces

Alliance Expedition

• Footmen
• Archers
• Rangers
• Knights
• Paladins
• Ballistae
• Mages
• Demolition Squads
• Flying machines
• Gryphon riders

Horde of Draenor

• Grunts
• Axethrowers
• Berserkers
• Ogres
• Ogre magi
• Catapults
• Death knights
• Sappers
• Zeppelins
• Dragons

Trivia

• The Bonechewer clan's AI is scripted to spam poorly-upgraded basic units, as indicated by the mission briefing. The Shattered Hand and Thunderlord clans have more traditional behaviors, being able to use advanced units like (respectively) death knights and dragons.
• While the mission objectives make it sound like you only need to survive until the Orcs give up, they actually never do this, so you must destroy all enemies to win.
• This is the first of only two missions (the other being The Bitter Taste of Victory) in which you get to control all five Alliance heroes introduced in Beyond the Dark Portal: Khadgar, Danath, Turalyon, Alleria and Kurdran.

Video

• Mission playthrough
• The Dark Saga ending cinematic