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This is it. We’ve finally reached Stormwind Keep and all that’s left is to destroy the castle and its defenders. But the Humans have other ideas, of course, and we start at a major disadvantage on this map. The enemy’s main base in the southeast corner of the map, where Stormwind Keep is, enjoys protection from two satellite bases on either side of it in the northeast and southwest corners of the map. Our base, in the northwest corner, has a respectable force already but comes under attack early and often from Human units, including the powerful Water Elementals. It’s very easy to get overwhelmed by the sheer number of units gunning for us, especially since Invisibility lets them ambush us more or less constantly. However, we still have our Daemons, and I’m confident they’ll empower us to win.

We start with a decent-sized force including three Raiders, two Catapults, and a Warlock who already has Summon Daemon. I have a Raider scout out our area to remove the shroud, but apart from that I keep everybody at the base. We’re facing attack from two directions and there’s simply too much to intercept, so the plan is to play pure defense until I’m able to get a sizable force of Warlocks. I start building up our base and Peon workforce as well as our defending units, and I make a point of building the Warlock Tower as soon as I can afford it. Once we have it, I begin training out large numbers of Warlocks so we can eventually summon large numbers of Daemons. Through it all, of course, the Humans are busy attacking, and on more than one occasion I’m forced to summon a Daemon simply to protect our base (especially when the enemy sends their Water Elementals).

Despite the tough opposition, I eventually amass a large group of Warlocks, and can put my plan into action. I start having them summon Daemons and send our red-skinned fighters to the northeastern base. It’s a bit more piecemeal than I’d like, but soon enough the base is razed. At this point I simply summon another four Daemons and have them march to the southwestern base. Once again, they easily overpower the defenses, but invisible unit counterattacks on our home base really take a toll. We lose more than one structure and lots of Peons to the enemy raids. Still, none of these attacks actually succeed in crippling our effort. I simply replace our losses and press the Daemon attack. When they successfully destroy the southwestern base, all that’s left is the main base containing Stormwind Keep.

Knowing it’ll be extremely well-defended, I decide to move eight Warlocks to the site of the southwest base as a staging area—it’ll give the Daemons into action faster, always an important factor since they’re on a time limit. Once they’ve arrived, I summon a large force of eight Daemons and have them march toward the central base. They’re greeted by lots of Human defenders and actually take some losses, but they still win the engagement and proceed to attack the structures. Stormwind Keep is notable as this base’s version of a Town Hall, and it’s a massive white castle. It’s much more durable than any other enemy structure, but the Daemons still destroy it eventually. From there we mop up the remaining enemy units and structures to win the day, and the Orc campaign ends in victory! An endgame cinematic shows the Orcs celebrating their triumph with a war feast, and the game notes that our player character has plenty of choices to make moving forward. The credits roll and the game ends.

And so ends the very first Warcraft game. It was one of the very first RTS games and isn’t that great by modern standards—besides poor graphics, the controls are clunky and only being able to command four units at a time simply doesn’t translate to easy gameplay. The sequel Warcraft II Tides of Darkness is in my opinion superior in every way. But for what Warcraft 1 is, it’s not half bad. At the end of the day, it’s still enjoyable, and that’s what games are ultimately supposed to be.