Chapter Introduction
Three days later, near the Lordaeron Coast.
Mission Objectives
- Main Quest - Establish a Base
- Build a Burrow
- Build a Warmill
- Build a Barracks
- Train 5 Grunts
- Main Quest - Rescue Grom
- Find Grom
- Destroy the Guard Towers guarding Grom
Strategy
This level is in two parts, one is to establish a base, which, when completed, will trigger the second quest: Find Grom. It is helpful to know that the second quest will start as soon as you accomplish the first. With that in mind, you can delay the second quest by completing everything except for the fifth grunt, and give yourself time to get ready for the second phase.
Follow the narrator's instructions about establishing a base, setting some Peons to mine gold, training some more Peons and setting them off to build the Warmill and Burrow (it's helpful to build an extra one), and some off to gather lumber. Once the Warmill is built, and as you have resources, upgrade your weapons and armor to Steel. When you build a barracks, however, build it down by the river, by the two War Towers that are already set up for you there. The second quest continues across the river, so if you need some more grunts, it'll be helpful to have them start as close to you as possible. Once the Barracks is built, have your Peon build at least two more War Towers in line with the two already there. Space is kind of tight here, and you don't want to completely block passage, but build as many as you think will be necessary.
Train 4 grunts, but before you train the 5th grunt, send them and Thrall to the North. Somewhere between the main base and the river is a trail that heads North. First you'll encounter two Level 1 Gnolls, which will be easy to take out. The path continues to the East, and at the end you'll find 3 Level 1 Gnolls and 1 Level 3 Gnoll. Use the tactic of sending Thrall in first to draw fire, and focus your attack on the Level 3 Gnoll. Once he's out of the way, the remaining Gnolls will be easy to kill. The Level 3 Gnoll will also drop a Scroll of Healing. This is the only treasure in this map.
Once you've done that, take your party back to the river, and position them between the War Towers and the river. Now, start training three more Grunts. The first one will complete the first the mission, and you'll have a short cut-scene that has the Humans raising a bridge across the river and sending some Footmen over to attack. You'll be ready for them.
The 4 footmen will be no match for 4 towers, 5 grunts, and Thrall. However, you will take some damage, so you may as well wait for the rest of your grunts to train and heal a little.
Once you're ready, move across the bridge (to the South-West), and if you want take out the two towers. The path will lead to a gate which you'll need to attack and destroy to enter the village and continue. There are two more towers here, but they are harmless; destroy them if you wish.
Head North into the village. You will soon reach two Footmen at turn. They will be easy for your party to take out, particularly with Chain Lightning. Defeating the Footmen release a Grunt they were holding prisoner. Add him to your party.
Follow the turn South-West, and there will be a lone Footmen holding a Shaman prisoner. Kill the Footman and add the Shaman to your party.
Follow the path West, and attack the two Footmen here, then North of them are two Riflemen.
Keep going West, and there will be two Footmen who hold two Grunts and one Shaman prisoner.
North of this are two Knights guarding a gate. Knights will be the toughest Human enemy you've encountered so far, so be ready for battle. Do your best to keep their attacks focused on Thrall (because he has the most Hit Points and heals the fastest), and again, use Chain Lightning while focusing your attacks on a single Knight. You should be able to defeat them fairly easily, as you should have 8 or more Grunts in your party by now.
Behind the gate are some Guard Towers, which will attack your Orcs (much like your War Towers attacked the Humans). Usually the best way to take out Guard Towers is with a Catapult (or Ballistae or Meat Wagon, depending on your current race), as they are the only units with a range that reaches beyond a Guard Tower's range. However, you don't have Catapults, so you just need to send your Orcs in. With a large enough army, though, you'll probably only lose one or two Grunts as you take out the three towers. Just keep them focused on a single tower at a time.
Once the Towers fall, Grom is release, and the level is won.
Treasures
The level's only treasure can be found by killing the Level 3 Murloc in the North-East part of the map, who will drop a Scroll of Healing.
Points of Interest
In the South-West corner of the map is an inaccessible church with a large graveyard. Use Thrall's Far Sight to find it (or use the "iseedeadpeople" cheat). There doesn't seem to be any way to get to it, nor does it appear to have any significance.