Stormwind Army The Stormwind Army is the primary armed force defending the lands and lives of Humans across the world of Azeroth . Their forces range from armored footmen to gryphon - mounted troops and siege equipment and ballistas . Considered by many to be some of the most tenacious and brave soldiers to ever stride a battlefield , the Stormwind Army serves as the arrowhead of the Alliance military , often striking hard and fast against Horde forces and the myriad other threats to peace across and beyond their realm . Recently , however , Human forces have been stretched thin due to multiple campaigns and war nearly without cessation , and internal threats have only exacerbated the issue of a lack of defensive forces in the homeland and , due to lacking troop numbers and supplies , a neglect of duties . This has led to a number of adventurers plugging the gaps in the defense of various bastions of Human and Alliance power across Azeroth and elsewhere , most notably during the skirmishes against the Defias Brotherhood and the battles with the Horde around Pandaria . History . When King Varian Wrynn returned home to Stormwind following the opening of the Dark Portal , he found that the nation ' s army was in terrible disorder . Thus was due in no small part to Onyxia , a member of the Black Dragonflight who had disguised herself as Katrana Prestor , a trusted advisor of the throne . A number of Alliance territories had been affected by Onyxia ' s machinations , which had divided the Stormwind forces inefficiently . Other casues for this disarray included corruption within the ranks of officers that led the army , desertion due to cowardice or to join various outfits of bandits and criminals that seduced soldiers with the promise of coin , and the attrition of constant conflict against the Horde . Many towns and regions formed their own militias to compensate for the lack of direct support from the crown ; such organizations included the Westfall Brigade , the Night Watch Militia , Morgan ' s Militia and the Dabyrie Militia . The Alliance had been forced to ask for the assistance of adventurers and locals to help plug the gaps in their defense , a humiliating prospect . Furthermore , many of these recruits were poorly equipped and trained , as well as lacking the numbers to efficiently and safely police the various farms , cities and forests of the land from various threats both internal and external . King Wrynn was quick to reform the army , uniting and energizing the troops and putting them under the command of competent , able and famous heroes . Reinforcements from other factions in the Alliance and additional recruits inspired by increased morale helped bolster the army ' s forces , and it embarked upon a number of new campaigns against the enemies of humanity . Losses suffered by the Stormwind army have been immense and would no doubt have brought a weaker , less willed nation to its knees . On the home front , soldiers are frequently lost to raids by the murlocs and gnolls of Elwynn Forest and the rebellious forces of the Defias Brotherhood in the faltering province of Westfall . In the Redridge Mountains , a prolonged assault by the Blackrock Orks has led to the decimation of Stonewatch Keep . Far away , in the shattered peaks of Outland , a brave bastion of Stormwind soldiers hold out against the forces of the Burning Legion , a force of demons that defies definition in both scope and spite . Closer to home , in the frigid wastes of Northrend , the seemingly infinite forces of the Lich King have not only ended the lives of hundreds of valiant Alliance troops , but have resurrected their bodies to serve the Scourge in a twisted perversion of their visages and patriotism . Many Stormwind soldiers also perished during the Shattering , a great sundering of the land caused by the escape of Deathwing the Destroyer from Deepholm . The event caused the earth to swallow fortresses whole , while still more troops died in intensified battles with the Horde in newly - contested zones occupied as a result of aggressive Alliance campaigning . Forces belonging to Stormwind spearheaded renewed efforts against the Horde off the coast of Pandaria , despite the efforts of that nation ' s residents to secure a lasting peace . Later , as the cruelty of the Orcish Warchief Garrosh Hellscream reached a pinnacle , the forces of the Alliance , including those of Stormwind , formed a reluctant entente with their enemies in the Horde and did battle with Hellscream ' s army in the Siege of Orgrimmar . Alliance troops again fought alongside the Horde during the invasion of an alternate Draenor , retaliation for the contained efforts of the Iron Horde to invade Azeroth as their predecessors in the Horde of the original reality had done some years previously . Conflict again brewed between the Stormwind army and the forces of the Horde with the renewed struggle against the Burning Legion on the Broken Isles off the western coast of the Eastern Kingdoms .