Inside and Outside the Battlefield

Outside New Hearthglen, the great battle had already begun. Ghouls, skeletons, and crypt fiends surged forward like a tide under the command of death knights, while the Judgment Army warriors within New Hearthglen could only engage them in chaotic melee after being caught off guard.

Melee battles had been the most common form of battle before the Battle of Mount Hyjal. Both sides' troops became mixed together and fought themselves hoarse. No tactics or strategy were needed—whoever broke first lost. Of course, the Scourge would never break.

Even if they fought down to their last skeleton, as long as they had not lost the command of the Lich King or their direct superior, Scourge soldiers never retreated. They were the finest soldiers: neither beauty nor wealth could tempt them, and they possessed no mercy. They faithfully carried out every order, aside from not having much of a mind.

Against the Scourge, which could not be scattered through slaughter, the Judgment Army—having absorbed organizations such as the Argent Dawn and Scarlet Crusade that had long fought the Scourge—had its own method. It was to employ decapitation tactics: find and kill the necromancers, acolytes, and death knights controlling the undead from behind the lines. This could not make the Scourge collapse, but it could deprive the undead of command.

A melee was a contest of ruthlessness and numbers alike. Without question, no one could match the Scourge in this regard. Thus, during such battles, the orderly commanded Scourge minions could often encircle their enemies from all directions, driving them to collapse and die in despair.

To avoid dying or breaking in despair, after being ambushed by the Scourge and forced into an all-out melee, Tirion and Bolvar, as the commanders, both abandoned command duties and personally went to the front lines to