The Vanguard War

[Sadok]

[A scribbled note at the top:]
Found these papers stuck at the bottom of the Annals. Who wrote them? How did it even get here? It seems to be the account of a past war, written from a human perspective? Your guess is as good as mine.
- High Blade Sadok Sharptongue

Preparation

((October 2007))

Ten long months had passed by, since the climactic end of the Covenant War at Winter Veil. And much had changed in terms of politics, military strengths, leadership and the event of the re-opening of the Dark Portal. All these changes had effected both the Alliance and Horde.

The Covenant, the Horde's main body of military forces, had recovered its losses over the months, and waged a partial guerilla war on the Alliance, making small, daring raids and impressive attacks. However, it was neither determined nor effective in harming the Alliance as a whole.

The Alliance however had slowly nurtured its own union of Alliance orders, counter attacking the occasional Covenant attack, with minor skirmishes, and including a frantic weekend in September that saw open battle occur from the Exodar, to Alterac and ending in the only massive battle between the wars, beyond in the Dark Portal in Hellfire Peninsula.

The events of the Burning Crusade also pulled the Blood Elves of Silvermoon and Draenei of the Exodar into taking sides, and contributing with their forces.

At the forefront of the Horde's forces was the now greatly bolstered Orcs of the Red Blade under their Matriarch, Akesha Redblade and her leading General, Overlord Kozgugore Feraleye. Furthermore, Blood Elf troops from the Ashen Enclave and Sin Belore joined the Covenant under the Horde's banner, along with the mercenary group known as the Sixty Thieves, and the adventures from the order of ‘Taur Nu Fin’.

The Gurubashi Empire was still a part of this union, but under the rule of Emperor Tziak, the Empire became more reluctant to aid its allies, preferring to leave them to their own devices, and becoming more and more isolationist.

The Alliance on the other hand was far less unified, surprisingly, since the valuable lessons of Winter Veil. Meetings only convened between the major groups when direly needed. Primarily this loose alliance was made up by the Disciples of Light under Aarian Northlight, the Shining Strand under Bishop Fortesgue, the Dwarven Rifle Squad under Burgen Copperforge, and finally the veteran forces of the Stromgarde Remnants under Seiken Trollbane.

As for territories, the offensive guerilla tactics of the Horde had slowly washed away the efforts of the Alliance since the previous war. Ashenvale was near annexed, since the Starseekers had disbanded, and Duskwood suffered near weekly small raids from Stranglethorn Vale by the Empire. Furthermore, the Horde often raided other various outposts including Theramore, Menethil Harbour, Thelsemar via the Badlands, and Lakeshire. Though, the Arathi Highlands remained mostly under Alliance control, despite the presence of a small Red Blade garrison in Hammerfall.

All in all the political climate in most Alliance cities urged the military to undertake an offensive campaign of some form, in order to stem this steady flow of draining and demoralizing attacks. The Alliance High Command soon made a formal request on the loosely united Alliance orders, under Trollbane’s leadership, offering support if he would undertake such a campaign. The majority of the orders accepted, and work to reclaim the lost territories began.

Immediately, and primarily, the Rifle Squad, Strand, Disciples and Arathorians began training in mobile warfare as well as siege warfare in Loch Modan. Making clever use of the varying countryside, both Burgen and Seiken trained the troops of this coalition (with the permission of the other leaders) against each others and together in caves, on islands, mock attacks on towns and field combat. Most importantly though, mounted and mobile combat was rehearsed, allowing for superior mobility in battle and the ability to cover ground as a force with great speed.

Ironically, during one such afternoon of training, the alarm bells of Thelsemar rang while the army was in the south east of the loch. A band of raiders and plunderers serving a troll named Jexa had attacked, the small raiding party was however very much unaware of the massive force training nearby. Quickly assembled and deployed under Burgen’s leadership, the coalition quickly arrived at the scene, surrounded and out-flanked the enemy, quickly crushing them with no fuss, using the exact same tactics they had previously been learning.

[Sadok]

Of Gryphons & Beginnings

((Late October 2007))

After moving the training exercises to Arathi, and confident of the prowess of the force they commanded, Seiken and Burgen, with the blessing of their superiors and other leaders, kicked off the offensive against the Horde by ransacking Hammerfall. The attack was a success; the element of surprise and the superior training and execution of the coalitions forces movements quickly crushed the local garrison, and the fort burned.

While returning to Refuge Pointe, the coalition force was met by a messenger from Aerie Peak, who explained how the Horde's guerilla forces had the previous evening attacked the Gryphon roosts of the Wildhammer clan, killing any chicks, eggs or adult gryphons they could find in order to stem their use by the Alliance in war. It was also learned that Maelmoor Lightbringer had rounded together a force of his own troops and allies to enact revenge on behalf of the Wildhammer, setting out for Raventusk Village some hours before. It was an opportunity not to be missed, the Hinterlands were deemed by both Burgen and Seiken to be the next location of the Alliance's efforts. Quickly mobilizing the coalition, they rode to Thoradin's Wall, and then to Aerie Peak in record time. Upon arrival, they learned of Lightbringer's movements and quickly moved their highly trained force east, toward the coast.

Upon arrival, the coalition heard the sounds of Alliance and Horde battle horns, and the furious noise of battle being joined as they moved down the path from the top of the cliffs. When reaching the bottom, they sounded their own horns, to the great surprise and joy of Maelmoor and his men who were locked in a stalemate with Gurubashi and Red Blade troops. The Horde force quickly pulled back into the safety of the village, behind the main entrance wall and away from the front field where the new and much large Alliance force met up with Maelmoor.

Lightbringer gave out the cry "Glory to the Alliance, men! Our allies have come to our aid, let us now avenge the fallen and end this!" and with a sudden jolt, the coalition thrust forward into the village's defences, and quickly overwhelmed them with lightning speed, to the surprise of their now tired Lightbringer allies.

After thirty minutes of fighting, the village of Raventusk was burned to the ground, and the Horde troops luckily enough to escape fled south along the beach, or used small boats on the docks to avoid their foes.

With a shock victory in their hands, the Alliance force began to march triumphantly back to Aerie Peak, singing of victory as they went. It was here at the peak that Lightbringer requested to join the coalition, and was immediately accepted. It was also when a name was conceived; the coalition would be named ‘The Vanguard’, the tip of the spear that would becomes the formidable Alliance army.

[Sadok]

Diplomacy & The Barrens

((Early November 2007))

Having secured further allegiances from other orders, the number of troops the Vanguard commanded grew too, each order throwing its full weight of men into the effort, having them trained and prepared. Even regular weekly meetings were established and took place in Stormwind Keep, to ensure up to date, regular and precise military action could be under taken.

It was at once such meeting that visitors from Kalimdor arrived to address the leaders of the Vanguard. Emissaries from the order of Natures grasp had been fighting a losing war against the Red Blade orcs in Ashenvale, and having heard of the success of the alliance in the eastern kingdoms, requested immediate aid in case of further attacks, possibly into Darkshore.

The idea was quickly considered. Maelmoor in particular pointed out that if the orcs took hold of northern Kalimdor, then they would have limitless resources at their disposal, and that the Alliance owed the Night Elves their aid for their assistance at the battle of Winter Veil, eleven months prior. All agreed immediately that Kalimdor was by far long overdue for retribution, but the Dwarves made a firm point that Theramore, Dustwallow Marsh and the dwarven fort in the southern Barrens should be secured as a firm southern flank on the continent before any force should make its way into Ashenvale from Darkshore.

Three days later, The Vanguard landed in Theramore in full force, sporting a highly trained and mobile force. Leading the offensive was be Maelmoor, who had conceived a strategy for the attack. While Burgen and Seiken would act as his lieutenants, respectively as Burgen led the infantry, and Seiken the Cavalry.

Quickly advancing into the marsh, the Alliance troops moved along the road to the North Point Tower, where they then moved further west into the marsh itself, though now far more cautiously. Arathorian Rangers under the command of Arador Dawnweaver quickly scouted the location, and reported back a minimal garrison, and unprepared defences.

The camp was quickly and quietly encircled, as a force crept toward both the eastern and western entrances. The gates were quickly taken, and the troops poured in with little resistance, Brackenwall Village was set to the flame, supplies burned, Ogres killed and anything of use was quickly ‘acquired’ by the Vanguard for later use, namely several crates of fire explosives and food.

With Brackenwall easily dispatched, the army moved south-west to the Barrens, where its full size came into perspective as their cavalry moved out onto the open plain. Moving south, Dwarven Rifle Squad troops quickly established contact with the garrison at the nearby fort and excavation dig, dropping off supplies.

Meanwhile, the rest of the army moved north-west, toward Camp Taurajo, which was a major trading post for the Horde. Using a dry riverbed as cover, they awaited quietly for the return of the Rifle Squad. When they did return it was simply a matter of preparing the fire bombs they had ‘borrowed’ and throwing them into tents. The village was quickly over-run because the Horde had not garrisoned the village, not even considering an attack on the area. In all, a vast amount of gold was actually taken from the village, along with fighting equipment and further food stores.

With such an easy victory, Maelmoor ordered Seiken to take his cavalry and scout the settlement to the north, at the Crossroads, while the rest of the army marched north along the Gold Road. Trollbane quickly set out north, covering ground quickly. Upon arrival he found the town relatively unguarded, however his own force he considered too small to stage an attack, so turning around he returned south, but didn’t find the rest of the army on the road, so pushing further south he reached Camp Taurajo again, where tauren and orc troops had arrived, having seen the smoke from the town in the distance.

Malemoor promptly ordered a withdrawal, to avoid needless deaths, having achieved their goals. Retreating back to the Dwarven settlement, along the road, they fought off several small pursuing enemy war bands. They remained at the fort for the night, and set off back to Theramore in the morning, moving the whole army by ship to Menethil, and then Darkshore, in one swift movement.

This whole episode didn’t go unnoticed, however. Expert Horde spies even stowed away on one ship, that arrived in Darkshore, and quickly travelled to Orgrimmar to report the news. Baffled and alarmed, the Covenant held an emergency gathering to discuss what had occurred the day before. Intelligence was quickly shared amongst those gathered, including the Ashen Enclave, the Red blades, Gurubashi, Sixty Thieves and a lone blood elf Blood knight who called himself Lorath, leader of the Horde Watch.

It was quickly decided by the Covenant to rally their forces and move out to Splintertree Post, to repel any attack and tighter their grip on the forest.

Both sides dispatched scouts to watch the other side, and it quickly became apparent of what the other was doing. Taking command for the obvious pitched battle that approached, Seiken Trollbane led the Vanguard to Astranaar in Ashenvale, and Kozgugore Feraleye led the Horde Covenant and its allies to Splintertree Post.

[Sadok]

The Battle of Raynewood & Beyond

((Mid November 2007))

Surprisingly, it took a whole week before the two armies actually set out to join battle in the forest. This was mostly due to Trollbane wishing to wait for the night elven forces of Natures grasp to join the Vanguard in Astranaar. With all their force gathered, the Vanguard moved east along the road, and the Covenant moved west having heard of the alliances movements from their scouts.

Trollbane stopped his troops on the West side of the river separating western and eastern Ashenvale, near Raynewood Retreat. This was due to his own Ranger force returning to him, informing of the approaching Horde force coming along the road from the east. It wasn’t long before the Covenant arrived and took up positions also.

Unknowns to Arathorian rangers, Horde skirmishers had crossed the river to the south and were attempting to ready themselves for a surprise rear attack on the road and on the Vanguards flanks. Meanwhile Seiken was sizing up the Covenant force, which was larger than anticipated, which presented a problem. Deciding to use the bridge as a bottleneck and killing zone, he ordered immediate ranged skirmishing, letting loose volleys of arrows and spells to taunt the Horde troops into cross and being cut down. It didn’t work, Kozgugore ordered a return volley in kind. At the height of this furious mutual bombardment, the lone Blood Elf known as Lorath stepped up and ordered the outflanking force to attack, catching the Alliance rear by complete surprise.

Kozgugore ordered the Covenant's infantry charge over the bridge to complete the trap. Smashing into the melee troops of the Vanguard, who were obviously a little confused as to where to be looking, the Alliance slowly moved back. The rear attack force of the Horde was successfully routed by Trollbane’s Household Knights, but at the cost of the army being slowly pushed back. The order to fall back was given via horn signals. In order to ensure their safety, the Alliance troops dropped smoke screen flares to mask their escape (a valuable tactic practised in Loch Modan), breaking off the hand-to-hand combat with the covenant.

Kozgugore quickly rallied his troops when the smoke cleared and pursued the Alliance west towards Raynewood Retreat, smashing a small rear-guard left by Trollbane, which quickly scattered into the woods. The vast majority of the Alliance army had managed to reach Astranaar, however, relatively unharmed and in an orderly fashion. The Alliance commanders quickly decided to make a stand, but in a brilliant move, Trollbane shifted the army to a wooded area north east of Astranaar, just north of the stretch of road to the bridge and into the city. The order to keep quiet and hidden was given by word of mouth, instead of horns and they lay in wait.

The Covenant soon arrived, eager to finish what they started. But they found an unguarded bridge and simply looked beyond it toward what seemed to be an empty city. A sudden surge of confusion spread amongst the horde troops. Before they could react however, a ferocious roar of soldiers and horns echoed through the forest coming from the north, on the Covenant's exposed right flank. The Vanguard burst out of the woods in a full furious charge, smashing into the Covenant's flank.

A violent and frankly quite messy combat ensued as the two armies melded into one large mess of people fighting, though the Alliance had the advantage of a cavalry force made up of Aarian Northlight’s disciples moving around the field, mopping up enemy forces in their weaker spots. One particular clash was between the Arathorian Household Knights of Seiken Trollbane and the bodyguard of Overlord Kozgugore. The two Generals fought for several minutes but neither managed to defeat the other, until Kozgugore eventually withdrew behind a shield of other individuals fighting, having seen his own troops started to waver and route back east.

The Vanguard quickly took advantage, using its cavalry to mop up what enemy troops it could, and systematically chasing down their tired and fleeing enemy. The Sixty Thieves and Horde Watch quickly exited the scene, along with the Gurubashi. Most other Horde troops quickly fled to the Barrens along with the Red Blade orcs. It wasn’t long before the pursuing Alliance force led by Maelmoor and Seiken finished the task by dealing a serious blow to Splintertree Post, and its garrison.

Ashenvale had been ‘liberated’, in not so many words. And the members of Natures Grasp pledged their allegiance to the Vanguard. They were quickly accepted.

Come a week later, it was further decided to ‘keep the Horde reeling’ by attacking their forces taking refuge in Stonetalon. The elves specifically requested this for obvious reasons, however other commanders were more sceptical as to whether it was really required. In the end a token raiding force was dispatched using the Talondeep Path, built up of the Dwarves Rifle Squad, Maelmoor and a group of his knights, Arathorian rangers and troops led by Seiken, elves from Natures grasp and Aarian’s Disciples, while the rest of the army would return to the Eastern Kingdoms.

The force set out early on an evening, meeting no resistance on the Talondeep Path, and the Venture Co. didn’t even attempt to resist and simply fled the scene. Reaching the main road in the mountains, the Webwinder Path, the Alliance force promptly split into two parts, one led by Ranger Commander Arador Dawnweaver which would head north and seek out any Horde trade caravans or patrols, then meet the other group on the road north of Sun Rock Retreat, while the second group would raid the south.

The Horde had in fact spotted them, as they moved onto the main path with their scouts, and quickly reported back to Kozgugore in Sun Rock Retreat of what they were doing. Furthermore, he was discussing the situation and events of the battle in Ashenvale with Lorath, who had brought along his Horde Watch. Completely unaware of the presence of a larger Horde force, the detachment of troops from The Vanguard split, and set off on their tasks.

The second group ran into problems first, as Lorath led hit and run attacks on them in small ambushes, slowing down their progress. The primary and first group headed by Arador, on the other hand, found no resistance or signs of the enemy, the Red Blades had pulled all merchants and troops back into Sun Rock using its back door in the Charred Vale.

Meanwhile, Seiken and Maelmoor led the second group past the main entrance to Sun Rock, taking the high road above it, toward the Charred Vale. Having realized that the Horde obviously knew they were there, they wanted to meet up and regroup with the main raiding party quickly, to avoid getting cut apart separately.

Arador’s force soon entered the Charred Vale, pursuing the retreating and scattered Horde troops by following their tracks. Upon realizing the enemy had scaled the winding road into Sun Rock Retreat, Arador slowly advanced upward. Narrowly avoiding a large and well-dug in ambush by Red Blade orcs, Arador withdrew and headed toward the upper path that Maelmoor and Seiken were on, deciding that it would also be best to team up again also.

After some hours of guerilla fighting, in and around the upper paths, The Alliance raiding force decided it pointless to proceed, the enemy were far too well dug in, and that they had insufficient numbers or equipment to move them.

Maelmoor and Seiken ordered the withdrawal to Stonetalon Peak. The Covenant had snatched a small and meaningful victory, and Lorath was keen to point out the case for better organizing Horde forces in future, the point was taken.

[Sadok]

Death & Destruction

((Early December 2007))

December saw the Vanguard's numbers bolstered even further, seeing the gains of the group known as ‘Bloodwind’ joining the fight, led by Aegnian Ravenheart. It was also about this time that the Gurubashi Empire withdrew its ‘membership’ in the Covenant. The Emperor was wholly dissatisfied with what he considered orcish bumbling in battle, as well as his annoyance with Blood Elves joining the Covenant, they took to doing things on their own. Especially when Trollbane was concerned, the Empire wanted him dead and defeated above all else, considering his repeated embarrassing of them in front of the rest of the Horde in both battle and acts of personally mocking the Emperor. This took a sideline for now though.

The Vanguard had begun tightening its hold on the Eastern Kingdoms, various meetings ended with the conclusion that both Stonard and Tarren Mill needed to be crushed in order to further hinder the bbility of the Horde to mount guerilla attacks from outposts on the outskirts of their territories.

Both operations were successful, lightning raids on both outposts resulted in victory, using highly mobile troops to strike at the towns, destroying everything and leaving before the garrison could ever react. This was made easy mainly due to the fact the Horde was still picking itself back up on Kalimdor. The Covenant held back and licked its wounds, leaving the Gurubashi to tend to themselves on the Eastern Kingdoms.

The Alliance however bolstered its patrols in Hillsbrad, Duskwood and Ashenvale to protect against counter-offensives, maintaining and protecting its reclaimed and better restored domains.

Though it wasn’t simply to end so. The Gurubashi had been plotting their way to harm Trollbane and enact revenge upon him. A spy organization based in Ravenholdt at the time is thought to have been the cause of what was to follow, but the truth will likely never be known. A traitor revealed the location of the hidden populace of Stromgarde to the Gurubashi, who immediately rallied a large and swift war-band under its high priest, Shrogan. The trolls sneaked into Arathi one evening, proceeded to approach the hidden camp in the northern woods, and attacked.

It was a lethal and killer blow. Every man, woman, child, the ill, elderly and war wounded was massacred. Decapitated, scalped, skinned, gutted. Bodies were piled high and burned, a mound of scalped skulls was left in the middle of the town as a sign, and the children hanged from washing lines. There were no survivors.

A patrol of the Arathorian remnant army returned some hours later to discover what had happened, in horror. Most soldiers came back to find their families butchered, others threw up in shock. Trollbane did as he ever did, let out a blood-curdling roar in anger.

The news of the massacre was received with shock and uproar in Stormwind and Ironforge, as many commanders debated what to do about this new and disturbing troll menace.

A meeting was convened later that week, with Seiken, Maelmoor, Burgen and others present. Trollbane proposed a radical solution, that had never been considered before, in all the months the trolls had raided Duskwood and mutilated Alliance citizens. He proposed the trolls' land be conquered, but he also proposed the trolls themselves be annihilated.

[Sadok]

The Lion & the Serpent

((Late December 2007))

The proposed plan was met with scepticism by most commanders in the Vanguard. Fortesgue and Maelmoor especially considered the plan near impossible. No army had ever managed to uproot the Empire in its homeland. Seiken pointed out though that this was untrue, the trolls had most commonly always been defeated in the Vale, but they used guerilla warfare, the terrain and local knowledge to tire their enemies out and force them to withdraw.

Seiken’s plan was twofold. He argued that if they managed to take the Vale pass from Duskwood into northern Stranglethorn and secure the bridges in open battle, then they could pour supplies and troops into the jungle and use their own now, far better trained and organized, troops to hunt down the trolls in hunting parties. The plan was eventually approved, though reluctantly.

Things were immediately set in motion. Scouts deployed to survey the territory, and gauge the Empire's strength. It soon became apparent that the trolls had in fact left the Covenant, but were still well-established in the jungle. A plan was built up, routes plotted and hidden troll villages found. The date was set for January, the fifth.

On the day of the invasion the army gathered at Sentinel Hill in Westfall, and covered most the field below it, the enormous size of the force gathered dwarfed that of any army previously seen in the two wars. Troops from all orders in the Vanguard had come to assist.

Setting out, the troops were ordered to keep silent, and progressed toward the bridge to the south-east, and crossed into Duskwood. Their destination was not the main road into the jungle pass, however. Arador and his rangers had found a secret mountain path that began near the river into the vale, that winded south, and then led to the river north of the hunters camp, and south west (more importantly behind) the main Vale pass and the first bridge.

The troops progressed quietly through the craggy mountain paths, while rangers and scouts moved ahead and then back to report that trolls had in fact mobilized, having received word from a scout in Westfall of the gathering army, though they had rushed to the wrong place and prepared to defend the Vale pass.

Upon exiting the path, Seiken led from the front, east along the northern bank of the river toward the Vale pass, where they quickly found themselves looking quite literally down on the enemy defenders, with them looking north, not west and having their left flank horribly exposed.

The order was quickly given to sound the order to charge. Battle horns sounded and the Arathorian troops charged headlong into battle seeking revenge on the trolls who had hurt their people so much. But the trolls were not alone; they had gathered mercenaries in vast waves, as well as received aid from the Horde Watch. However, this did not stop nor slow the initial surprise attack by the Alliance, they swung south and pushed the Horde south across the first bridge hanging over the river.

Regrouping, Seiken, Maelmoor and Burgen thrust themselves and their troops southward, smashing the enemy lines once again. It was at this point the Emperor could see the full scale of the immensely large Alliance army, and promptly turned tail, and fled south with his bodyguard, leaving many of his troops to die. The mercenaries were quickly hacked down and dispatched, or fled to Grom’gol and the Zeppelins. While the Horde Watch moved south east into the jungle.

The bridges were quickly taken control of, and the troops put into order. The main force was stationed in the Vale pass and at the Rebel Camp. The Horde Watch even tried a cunning counter attack to take the Vale pass in the mid-evening, but was ambushed and forced off with several volleys of focused fire from Vanguard troops. Lorath then left the jungle, taking himself and his watchers to Orgrimmar by Zeppelin.

But as the plan stated, it was not to end there. Tziak, his main troops and populace still remained, though hidden in the jungle to the south. Seiken immediately began organizing hunting parties, giving them orders and areas to search as well as detailed plans and maps of villages they did know of, the orders he gave were aggressive and simple:

“If they have tusks, kill them, pile them high, and burn them.”

And this order was followed to the letter, especially by the Arathorian troops eager for revenge, whom of which butchered and killed trolls, even those begging for mercy or surrendering.

For the next four days, they slowly moved south, pushing the trolls back as their hunting patrols killed any troll or member of the Horde they came across. It got to the point where on the third night, the road between all the northern bridges was lit at the sides by massive bonfires of burning troll corpses. Trollbane lived up to his name, and led the greatest genocide since the rise of the Scourge, even sickening many of his own allies in doing so. It was widely believed this tactic would have succeeded, had it not been for one thing.

Stormwind was under threat of a plague outbreak, the mere suggestion of which meant the unanimous decision to withdraw from the Vale and return home to enforce quarantines and defend borders. Even Seiken, though reluctantly, bowed before the pressure of the Stormwind Council to withdraw the army to enforce the quarantine.

The Gurubashi narrowly avoided being completely wiped out, by hiding in the thicket covered hills around the northern edges of Booty Bay.

With the troops withdrawn, and to his great dismay, Seiken ordered his own men to move to Darkshire, while he remained behind. The reason though, unknown.

Two days later, Trollbane’s body was found nailed to a tree by the Vale pass, with his heart sacrificially cut out. To this day, nobody knows why he remained behind, or what events precisely led to his demise, but his actions led to the Vanguard losing its General, and taking a massive blow to moral.

Seiken was buried with full honours in Elwynn Forest two days later, as the army and many delegates watched on.

[Sadok]

Retribution & Change

((January to February 2008))

The invasion had been a disaster. The leading General of the Vanguard was dead, moral was at an all time low and to what direction this coalition would now take was unclear.

Fractures began to form immediately between various leaders. The dwarves were extremely angered they were not warned about the small plague outbreak (which was halted and cleansed away) so they could prepare themselves in case of a similar outbreak in Ironforge. Arguments intensified, and diplomatic relations as well as joint operations broke down between Stormwind and Ironforge.

Though the massive force that had previously been the entirety of the Vanguard had split apart, some orders persevered and took to the borders as garrison forces, or patrolled territories deemed to be at risk. One such venture was undertaken by the Disciples led by Aarian Northlight to the Arathi Highlands, staying there in considerable numbers for two months. Meanwhile, the dwarves took to repelling orc attack by the Red blades from the Badlands. The Lightbringers and Strand took primarily to safeguarding Stormwind and its borders.

The Horde however began its guerilla raids again, the Empire now revelling in the defeat of their greatest foe began weekly raids into Duskwood, some probing as far as Goldshire. The Red Blades raided most townships in dwarven lands, overall setting the tone of the whole conflict back to step one.

The meetings the Vanguard held echoed voices of concern, worry and anger at recent events. The bottom line however was that something had to be done, and a new General had to be elected. Of all the candidates proposed, a newcomer took the chairman seat, Aegnian Ravenheart of the Bloodwind order.

Things were quickly set in order, and attentions shifted as Aegnian outlined the need for a large northern push to take back firm control of Hillsbrad, Alterac and the Plaguelands.

However, the Horde had begun patrolling Arathi aggressively, making any advance into Lordaeron impossible. Aarian quickly proposed pitched battle on the Highlands, reminiscent of the battle of Winter Veil so that they could make a killing blow on the Horde and push deep into the north unstopped.

Aarian quickly and abruptly challenged the Red Blade Overlord Kozgugore to pitched battle in the Highlands by sending him a message attached to an arrow which was picked out of a guard's chest in Hammerfall. The challenge was accepted, and diplomatic envoys sent out to all members of both the Covenant and Vanguard to lend their aid to the cause. The Horde had different aims though, hoping to annihilate the leaderless army in the field so they could begin a far more aggressive war (perhaps even plunge toward Ironforge again, like in the Covenant War, or attack Stormwind).

On the day of battle, a vast array of forces gathered in Refuge Pointe. The experienced and varied fighters of Bloodwind under Aegnian, the disciplined and stalwart men of the Holy Lightbringers under Maelmoor, The Veteran Lancers of the Strand led by Fortesgue, the ‘explosive’ and determined (but drunk) rifleman of the Dwarven Rifle Squad, the uncorrupt Scarlet Crusade under Lord Darothar, the Elite Stromgarde Remnant under Arador Dawnweaver and of course the Disciples of Light and their mighty force of Paladin Cavalry. This was an army to be reckoned with, massive in size, strong in training and flexible in battle.

Marching out into the field, both sides ended up facing each other just south of where the battle of Winter Veil occurred, though on very different terms to the just mentioned battle. The Horde had not received any aid from the Empire, being more or less shunned by them, but did have bolstered ranks from the Horde Watch and other groups, though their numbers paled enormously in comparison to that of the Alliance who sported double the man power, and an enormous force of veteran cavalry.

It was but a matter of mere moment and deep breaths by surprised orcs (not expecting the Alliance to jave recovered after the shock in the vale) before Aarian sounded the charge, with the deep thunder of drums and horns the enormous wave of horses thrust forward in an armoured spear-head toward the Covenant's lines. At the same time as seeing this massive wave of force coming towards them, complete panic and chaos shivered through the Horde army, as they breached for the impact.

The collision was one sided, the spear-head of cavalry smashed through the Horde's front ranks like a flaming broadsword through butter. Their flank troops however bolted forward into the centre of the fight and a massive melee clash began as one sided melded into the other. The immediate shock force of the Alliance's charge did considerable damage, and the Horde slowly but surely began to route eastward, before turning into full flight. Fighting as they ran, pursued by this enormous force, they eventually arrived in Hammerfall to set up a desperate defence.

Upon arrival at the walled fort town, the Alliance commanders inspected the situation and ordered Hammerfall be surrounded, attacked and wiped out with any enemy inside along with it. The order was carried out swiftly, with all entrances closed off, and the walls as well as gates stormed. Try as they may the Covenant's troops just didn’t have the manpower present or left alive to hold both entrances, and so Kozgugore wisely gave the order to ‘escape to Hillsbrad by any means possible’. A large majority of orcs, Blood Elves and other members of the Horde escaped by Wyvern, or by literally leaping over the palisade walls and making a break for it.

The battle was quickly concluded with the sacking of the town, and members of the Alliance knowing that one man does not make an army, but every member of it making a contribution does. The Vanguard withdrew to Refuge Pointe, singing as they went, reminiscent of another battle over a year before.

[Sadok]

Hillsbrad & Further Desecration

((March 2008))

With the Highlands secure, the next stage of the northern offensive was considered at the Vanguard's next meeting. In-depth planning took place as Aegnian proposed securing the whole region in one day, in an attempt to overpower any resistance quickly and minimize any backlash. A date was immediately planned. The attack would come two weeks after the securing of Arathi.

Things quickly began to be put into motion, as supplies and equipment was sent and hidden in Stromgarde to prepare for the assault west across Thoradin's wall. The Horde however had recovered quickly, calling in large reinforcements from various corners of Kalimdor and Lordaeron. The Horde Watch particularly had massively bolstered its ranks and was a formidable force now. What’s more, Kozgugore had come into possession of plans taken from an Alliance messenger, explaining exactly where and when the Alliance would attack, even so much as to explain how they would go about it.

When the day of the attack came, the Alliance gathered its force behind the walls of Stromgarde in the safe quarter of the city. After a quick and orderly march out of the main gates, led by Aegnian himself, the troops ordered themselves into battle formations and moved west. They progressed toward Thoradin's Wall unhindered, however upon arrival at the wall they were met with a shocking sight. The Covenant had blocked the gate and dug in, creating a formidable defence of the wall, essentially barring the way.

Aegnian promptly split the army in two, sending its Cavalry force north to bypass the main gate by passing through a large gap in the wall while the infantry would mount a distracting assault on the gate. It worked, just. If the cavalry hadn’t have arrived as quickly as it did, the infantry would have broken rank and routed very soon, due to the ferocity of the Horde's defence. Securing the main gate, the Vanguard split into its various planned groups and moved off in various directions to try and secure differing objectives in the region.

The cavalry force moved along the main road west, trying to secure the bridges and towers on the way to Southshore, while the infantry moved north-west then west to the river in order to try and assault Tarren Mill.

However, it didn’t go anywhere near to plan. Red Blade troops held strong at the bridges and towers along the road, slowing down the advance of the cavalry, while Lorath led his Horde Watch in various defensive position up and down the northern hills surrounding the main river, inflicting dreadful casualties on the infantry force led by Aegnian. Both groups progressed slowly, taking heavy casualties as they moved further west. In particular, the first few attempts to cross the river toward Tarren Mill were utter failures and resulted in massive loss of life.

It took two very brave and simultaneous rallying attempts to actually push through on both fronts. Aarian led a successful rallying attempt along the road, clearing the way to Southshore, while Aegnian led the river crossing successfully. Though this wasn’t the end of problems, as the enemy troops (in particular the Horde Watch led by Lorath) continually mounted ferocious counter attacks, trying to force any Alliance soldiers back across the river or pin them down into Southshore.

After an hour of relentless back and forth fighting, the cavalry force and Aarian managed to link up with Aegnian at Tarren Mill, to begin a full-scale attack, attempting to finish the enemy off while pinned in Tarren Mill. Over the course of next half hour, both sides moved back and forth, fighting in the houses, outside them and around them, in what can only be described as the bloodiest and cruellest close quarters fighting of the whole war. Though neither side seemed to be able to manage to overpower the other, as they slugged it out in the town. In the end, Aegnian, satisfied with the advance so far and the securing of Southshore ordered a fall back to the port town, not wanting to risk further casualties.

The battle of ‘Darrow Hill’ as it was later named, ended with the Horde entrenched in Tarren Mill, the Alliance likewise, and both sides fighting over the surrounding lands for the next two months, using guerilla and patrolling tactics.