March of the Scourge " March of the Scourge " is the fifth chapter in the Human Campaign The Scourge of Lordaeron . It involves the player defending their base from a large undead assault . There is also a Side Quest in which the player is given the option to go out and destroy a caravan of plagued grain before it infects all the outer villages . Battle . Arthas Menethil and Jaina Proudmoore arrive at the village of Hearthglen where they discover the inhabitants are preparing for battle . The commander of the town guard tells Arthas that an undead army is coming to attack the village . Arthas tells Jaina to go and find Uther while he stays and defends the town . Jaina reluctantly obeys and teleports away . Arthas then notices some suspicious - looking crates nearby . He asks what was in those crates . The commander replies that it was just a shipment of grain from Andorhal and that the grain has already been distributed amongst the villagers . Suddenly , several of the villagers fall into a strange sleep and are transformed into zombies . Arthas realizes that the Scourge plague not only kills people , it brings them back as the undead . Arthas and his troops swiftly dispatch the zombies . Soon afterwards the Scourge army arrives and begins its assault on Hearthglen . Arthas rallies his men and they fight off wave after wave of undead . In the middle of the battle , Arthas learns that a caravan of plagued grain is passing through the area infecting other villages . Arthas and a small group of men track down the caravan and ambush it . They slay the undead escorts and destroy the Meat Wagon s carrying the plagued grain . Arthas and his troops then hurry back to the village . As the siege of Hearthglen continues the undead grow stronger and stronger with every attack . The defenders are slowly being whittled down . Finally , the undead launch a massive assault against the town . This attack is led by a pair of Liches who use their destructive powers to breach the defenses . Countless undead pour into the town and start overwhelming Arthas ' forces . Arthas is on the verge of defeat when suddenly Uther and Jaina arrive with an army of Silver Hand knights . With the undead now caught between Uther ' s forces and the remaining town defenders , the tide swiftly turns in favor of the humans . After the last of the undead are defeated , Uther and Jaina meet with Arthas to discuss the situation . Despite having won the battle , Arthas is humiliated that he almost lost . Uther sternly tells him that they can ' t afford to let pride distract them . What happened here was only the beginning . Arthas argues that the best way to defeat the Scourge is to kill their ( supposed ) leader Mal ' Ganis who resides in the city of Stratholme . Uther warns Arthas that he can ' t do this on his own . Arthas retorts that he is going after Mal ' Ganis with or without Uther ' s help . Tips . While waiting for another attack , get Arthas on the road from where they came to Hearthglen . There should be a small farm with two villagers . They will turn into footmen , which will help you defend Hearthglen and their land . There is also group of humans near your base , but unluckily , they will become Zombies due to Plague . A captured villager will give a potion then runs away to either Hearthglen or to the woods . Defend Hearthglen as much as you can . It ' s not recommended to go on offensive , the undead army being too numerous to take down . But if you want to end the mission by destroying the Scourge forces , prepare a force strong enough to crush both bases . Building a large number of Mortar Teams and researching Black Gunpowder can make it very effective for destroying enemy units and buildings . Crush the Undead Caravan before they go to the last village and your base and cause a chaotic outcome . The Caravan converts villagers into Zombies , but the Zombies never leave the village . The best time to do this is with a basic group of 12 units mustered as quickly as possible , with at least 6 more left to defend you base . As soon as you can ( preferably when the caravan is right before or at the first village ) , defeat the next Scourge wave and exit out the lower - west exit . Move left until you get to a stream , infested with nearly a dozen low level murlocks . Fight through them , then continue through the stream until you get to the green undead base . You should be able to run you forces around the edge , and as long as you don ' t stop to attack the Ziggurat , there won ' t be a response to your forces . Your forces are new either direcly infront of the caravan , or behind it as it ' s moved ahead to the first village . Charge in and focus on killing the Meat Wagons first , then defeat the guards . Don ' t worry about casualties , as Arthas should be level 6 and have his Ressuraction spell unlocked ( brining back 6 dead units ) . After their defeat , there ' s a fountain of healing to the left of the first town and a group of Ogres that come to it . Kill them for a Gauntlets of + 3 Strength . Return to where you defeated the caravan and use the dropped Scroll of Mass Teleportation if you need to get back to base in a hurry . There is an unoccupied mine at the northeast corner on the map , make use of it , but Undead Scourge will check and attack it . If the Undead Caravan reach the last village , this mine will also be exposed to great danger . So defense of that spot is necessary . It is recommend that you complete the side quest as to prevent the scourge from attacking you on all 3 fronts . The last wave of Scourge forces are notably large in number , especially in Hard difficulty . Stalling is the only option . On Normal Mode the Scourge will largely ignore the opening on the eastern side of the base .