After the great battle ended, the Alliance did not press their advantage. Instead, before the Horde's main forces could regroup and counterattack, they withdrew behind the Thoradin Wall and deployed heavy defenses there.
Alaric and Lothar's judgment was correct.
The army they had encountered earlier—personally led by the Horde's Warchief—was only a small elite force hastily assembled in response to the Alliance's flanking assault through the Hillsbrad Foothills.
From Orgrim's perspective, these Alliance troops were the main reinforcements sent to support the Kingdom of Stromgarde.
Since the Horde had long failed to breach Stromgarde Keep, Orgrim feared that with the arrival of Alliance reinforcements, the defenders of Stromgarde would coordinate a pincer attack, catching the Horde between hammer and anvil.
This wise and battle-hardened Warchief had no choice but to lead his elite troops in person to momentarily halt the Alliance's advance.
Meanwhile, the Horde began gathering its main forces and shifting their strategy—leaving a small detachment to keep Stromgarde in check while the main army turned to crush the Alliance reinforcements in one decisive blow.
As the Alliance forces withdrew from the Arathi Highlands, the orcish main army finally completed its mobilization and began to pursue Lothar's troops all the way to the Thoradin Wall.
Facing the towering wall that once made the troll empire retreat in fear, the orcs launched a series of probing attacks.
However, even though the Horde's overall strength now surpassed that of the old Amani Empire, they still suffered heavy casualties without gaining an inch against the fortress-like wall.
Eventually, after repeated failed assaults, Orgrim had no choice but to abandon the siege and return to his campaign against Stromgarde Keep.
As for the Alliance forces behind the Thoradin Wall, Orgrim didn't even bother leaving a token force to contain them.
Through earlier skirmishes, he had come to understand that the Alliance main force was far stronger than he had anticipated—even his elite troops had been unable to match them. Leaving a small detachment of ordinary orcs behind would only result in them being devoured wholesale.
But upon returning to Stromgarde, the Horde was shocked to find the situation had drastically changed.
Previously on the verge of exhausting their supplies, the defenders of Stromgarde now seemed fully replenished and were launching sharp counterattacks.
Arrows, logs, stones, and all sorts of war supplies that once had to be rationed were now used freely, inflicting heavy losses on the attacking orcs.
What's more, the number of defenders also seemed to have increased—at least enough to allow for rotation.
The Horde's strategy of exhausting them through relentless assaults day and night had lost its effect.
In short, after several days of renewed siege, it became clear that Stromgarde's defensive strength had significantly improved.
This shift left Orgrim utterly baffled.
Eventually, after thorough scouting by his spies and warlocks, the truth was uncovered, the seemingly isolated fortress, surrounded on all sides by Horde forces, had reestablished communication and supply lines with the Alliance via the sea.
Alliance troops and resources were pouring into Stromgarde by water.
This discovery nearly made Orgrim cough up blood.
He had never imagined that the dragon betrayal and the Dragonmaw Clan's failure would have such devastating consequences for the Horde.
Losing control of the seas not only ruined their amphibious invasion plans—wasting countless warriors who died at sea—but now also crippled their assault on the Arathi Highlands.
This towering, sea-backed, single-approach fortress was the key to conquering the Arathi Highlands.
As the capital of the Kingdom of Stromgarde, so long as the keep remained standing, the Horde could never establish a secure foothold in the region.
And without holding the Arathi Highlands, they could never set up a stable base in Lordaeron.
The dream of taking the initiative to conquer the Lordaeron continent and defeating the Alliance completely now seemed laughably out of reach.
Then came Alaric's suggestion—which pushed the Horde in Arathi into a dire dilemma.
"You're saying… you want to form a purely cavalry unit to harass the Horde's rear?" Alaric's sudden proposal left Lothar deep in thought.
Throughout his long military career, Lothar had always favored direct assaults and defensive battles when facing the orcs.
There was little choice in the matter.
Though Lothar and most Alliance commanders understood the true nature of war—as an extension of politics.
A long-standing tradition still led them to prefer conventional, head-on combat, lining up on the battlefield or defending cities, with large-scale destructive magic being the only strategic gambit they regularly employed.
But as the war dragged on, thanks to both the crafty Orgrim and allies like Alaric and Sylvanas—who each employed unpredictable and sometimes ruthless tactics—this old warrior's eyes were opened.
Tactics, after all, are not about morality or honor, but about effectiveness.
Now, Lothar could fully embrace Alaric's "don't fight head-on, strike the enemy's weak points" approach—even if it seemed underhanded.
After careful thought, he realized Alaric's strategy was highly feasible.
Given the current situation, the Alliance was clearly on the defensive. But thanks to their geographic advantage, they only needed to defend two locations.
The Thoradin Wall and Stromgarde. Ironically, this meant the defenders held the initiative.
The Horde, by contrast, though powerful, had no natural defenses in the Arathi Highlands.
Their repeated failures to take Stromgarde left them exposed—attacked from front and rear.
Unless they abandoned their plans to conquer Lordaeron altogether, this deadlock would persist.
Which meant the Alliance could, in fact, launch mobile raids and harass the enemy.
True, these raids could never decisively harm the enormous Horde force.
But like boiling a frog slowly, or bleeding a beast over time, they could wear down the enemy by killing off small units and disrupting supply lines.
Come to think of it, wasn't this just an expanded version of what Lothar had already done on the battlefield?
There, he had used the Alliance's superior coordination and equipment to stay on defense, slowly draining the attacking Horde's strength.
Now, the overall Alliance strategy could mirror that approach—defensive attrition leading to a final killing blow.
On the battlefield, Lothar would send cavalry out to strike and then retreat behind shield walls—simultaneously hurting the enemy and maintaining morale.
Alaric's proposed strategy was no different, simply executed on a larger scale.