I kept a deep thought process about this issue for a while and had to think about what factions inside of the Horde are the biggest contributers to the forces.
My own headcanon goes like this:
Forsaken. Biggest strength in numbers and most dangerous weapons in their arsenal feared by everyone(Val’kyr, Blight etc.). Not to mention the military success of Sylvanas from the past left a big middle finger in the faces of the Alliance as a faction in terms of shifting power in Cataclysm. I doubt there is no common people in the Alliance who aren’t fearing her and her Forsaken.
Goblins. They have all the gadgets, explosives, technology, resources(trading), numbers(They are eveywhere on Azeroth) and serveral specialized forces. And they pretty much pay for everything(economy again).
Orcs. Since you can’t tell me with a straight face SoO and the rebellion left them untouched, they lost their peak performance as top dogs of the Horde. Kudos to Garrosh for this btw. Still breeding like rabbits and 1 vs 1 they win their fights on the battlefield, their biggest problem was always lack of formations and smaller numbers compared to the human forces. Still, they are the face of the Horde and Blizzard still treats them like it. They are the common soldiers of the Horde and are the biggest canon fodder race in numbers right after trolls.
Zandalari. Recently joining the Horde(officially not until the Raid on Zuldazar is over and Rastakhan dies by the hand of the Alliance, forcing them to actually take action in the canon war campaign), still have half a fleet, strng ground forces and air riders on dinsosaurs, powerful magic, laser t-rex as siege weapons and much more stuff. And an honorable mentions to their wild gods activley aiding them, unlike those Hyjal ancients.
All of the Tauren, included Highmountain. Got their ranks bolsted by the Highmountain Tauren and act as shock troopers for the Horde mostly. One heavy boi wrecks a full human soldier squad best case scenario.
Sin’dorei. Powerful magic, powerful constructs, Blood Knight Order, Farstriders. They have elite forces in various tastes to make up for their lower numbers compared to the more populos races.
Darkspear Trolls. Low in numbers, much more of spec op forces and spiritual aid than bigger contributers for the overall Horde army.
Pandaren. Didn’t see them once so far depsite as supportive presence and I guess they would rather be back on their isle instead of participating in this war.
I can’t make assumptions for the Nightborne since we haven’t seen them so far engaging directly with the Alliance yet. I will make some lore explanation once I am less tired. See you all tomorrow.
Forsaken over Orcs? Really? I’d say the Orcs are the main force so far and the Forsaken hasn’t really engaged properly beyond small forces (and they apparently don’t have the numbers to hold Darkshore so that warfront can be that big army-wise).
I feel like you need to elaborate more within it here. Are we talking overall, or which Corps in particular?
For special ops/assassins i’d have said Forsaken, artillery/armour Goblins, foot soldiers and general ground troops… you’d think Orcs but aren’t they supposed to be few in number in lore?
And where are you getting that exactly? Given that they constantly raise new troops, night elves among them. Darkshore is largely forsaken dominated, goblins being 2nd.
Largely agree with your list. Except I would probably switch Tauren and Sindorei.
And note that the bulk of the contribution to this war, when talking about Tauren, is currently being shouldered by their Highmountain cousins with Lasan at their head. Eagle riders have become a staple unit in this war, with relevant roles in both defending the Zandalar and striking at Boralus. Whilst the main contribution of the Tauren of Mulgore, has been Baine alone as counsellor.
I’d probably set the Sindorei a step above them, because just like the Nightborne, they are indeed very present in Zandalar.
And in the Alliance side of the Nazmir warfront, they have deployed a whole army of Blood Knights, Golems, and Magister, that are tapping and training over former Blood Troll lands.
And of course, we then have the Reliquary working in tandem with Occuleths apprentice.
Orcs id probably rank bellow goblins. But I’m unsure about it, because they have indeed pulled their strength into the Arathi warfront.
I was unsure about the high position of the Orcs first, because of SoO, since there is no way, they could have remained top spot after that huge raze through the city. After work I will probally update the list in a more fashioned manner.
I agree.
But then i considered the palpable reinforcement that came thanks to the Maghar, and the huge predisposition the race had towards war.
Even if they are indeed fewer, they can still contribute quite a lot. And stuff like Rexxars onslaught in Stormsong, Arathi, etc, point at them still having a big role within the Horde military.
I’d expect the Lightforged and the Void elves to be very very few. And I’d still rank both amongst the top five contributors to the Alliance war effort. (Which would be an interesting list to speculate upon too).
Goblins (Pretty much all advanced weaponry & vehicles are goblin tech, which is often used by Goblins themselves). Even before the Bilgewater joined in, the Horde relied on Goblin mercenaries from the steamwheedle cartel.
Forsaken (second biggest distributor of weapons, especially bio-weapons)
Orcs (Best troops. Seem to reproduce like rabbits, follow orders like sheep and have no problem with dying for pretty much anything)
Blood Elves & Nightbourne (supply the Horde with all the magical needs)
Tauren (Same as orcs but have stronger bodies but are often bound to pesky morality).
Darkspear (valuable troops & casters, but way too few).
Pandaren (teaching monks? It wouldn’t really make a difference whether they are in the Horde or not).
I didn’t list the Zandalari because we didn’t see them in the Horde army yet. But I bet they are reasonably powerful.
Upon further consideration, this is quite true. Zandalari are still to be considered part of the Horde army, as they won’t join it officially until after the raid.
It took the Alliance two invasion Forces.
Weeks of planing and sabotage.
A civile war and a Coupé.
A Blood troll all out Assault
And the Zandalari is Still Strong enough that Sylvanas wants them and, they can claim equality with the Horde.
No Blood Oath to serve the Banshee Queen.
As Strong as the Sin’dorei is where I would place them in the Scala.
Sin’dorei were forced into the war against the Lich King and have nothing to say regarding current Horde’s evil campaign. I’d say Zandalari, who are capable of telling Sylvanas to put her Warchiefness up her pretty behind because they will “serve” nobody, are a tad stronger that Sin’dorei.
True. But given the opening question was about how the different races contributed to the war, it’s true to point out they can’t have contributed much, given they haven’t officially joined yet.
Although it’s certainly true that once they join and if they fully contribute to the war, their aid would be par on the most powerful Horde races.
I just updatet the OP post. I believe this final list is accurate enough.
Nobody forced them into anything. They were ordered to honor their end of the bargain they made when they joined the Horde. Sylvanas just reminded them of it. Quel’Thalas would be dead without Forsaken aid in Tristessa and Lor’themar knows it.
They raise because they can, it only strengthens their army, it’s all Nathanos really talks about, how all those units will make a perfection addition to the Dark Lady’s army. It has nothing to do with forsaken lacking numbers, it’s just a matter of ‘‘why not’’ or in Nathanos’s words ‘‘Why let a perfectly good corpse go to waste’’.
Besides, they can’t ress every night elf, some decline on the ‘‘dark gift’’.
or in Nathanos’s words ‘‘Why let a perfectly good corpse go to waste’’.