Ashbringer's Tale Retold

[MM52]

Hello i just finished your custom project. I was nice refreshing experience of the well known story, but taken completely new alternative path. The fact Illidan directly changed course of actions was golden for me Missions was easy enough, but none of my heroes could reach 10 level to see their full potential. Besides the bugs mentioned above (rocks in chapter 4 and death of Lillian did not result to defeat hear dead spawned to the next area and she had part of dialog too xD) I had serious problem with errors, in every single chapter or interlude i suffered at least one. In the 5th chapter error hit me 6x times, I lost passion to even continue I had to skip all cinematics to lower the chance of having one. I was wondering was there a problem on my side or its general issue of all reforged? I played on the classic and have the latest updated version.

 

[Rokoltira]

dark iron smelten

 

[deepstrasz]

1. After reaching the end of the orc base, there was a scene back at the place with explosive barrels where someone was talking to someone else about being lazy and to move the barrels. Problem is no one was there.
2. The second main quest only appeared in quest message not also in the quest log.
3. Most units got their own WoW icons but the mercenaries still have the Warcraft III ones. There's also some abilities and upgrades which have the Warcraft III ones.
4. Not sure if the mix between regular SD/Calssic buildings and WoW models is ideal.
5. Acolytes are not mining gold. They're standing outside the haunted gold mine's ritual circles.
6. Looks weird that sunlight comes from trees whilst the roads which are uncovered have none of that light. Makes the trees look like street lights.
7. Illidan acts like Mr. Freeze in Batman & Robin (1997): "cool party", "baby!"
8. Not sure if intended but the mysterious orcs fight the neutral hostile troops in the Syndicate fort chapter.
9. Weird that for an optional quest, the only ones that attack constantly, and I mean constantly, are the mysterious orcs while the syndicate bases wait to be destroyed.
10. Shouldn't the Syndicate Golem be mechanical?
11. For a city in ruins, Dalaran looks pretty good.
12. Oh, I get it, Illidan's high.
13. After the Silverspoon mission, a Mechanostrider remained in my control group although it wasn't on the playable map.
14. In Dimgarde Sally only appears in the intro and as a hero icon afterwards. I played Silverspoon, Ravenholdt and left Dimgarde for last.
15. Well, demons don't spawn after the first shimmering portal. So, I can't continue. Tried going to the south first then to the northern one and the other way around and still nothing. Sadly, I don't have a save file before entering the last zone (Heartglen).

A neat eye candy story but missions are pretty much go from here to there even though some custom abilities and stuff were used but the gameplay remains essentially Warcraft III melee.

EDIT: restarting the chapter made it work, the demons appeared on the other portals as well this time.

1. Doesn't quite make sense. The lich was expecting the dreadlord to eliminate the humans but then told them they were doing what the lich king desired by killing the dreadlord.
2. The wyrms and griffins just flew along south instead of starting a fight, like they went together in a flock or something.
3. The lich was defeated but actually was laying a trap by being defeated to act defeated to trap the heroes.
4. Also, I'm starting to understand this whole retelling of the Ashbringer is a parody.

 

[Med. MapGuy]

Ashbringer's Tale Retold has been updated to v1.01! Updates include:

• Added a brand new playable level, “Light’s Wrath”
• Fixed animation timing when characters walk
• Final Sylvanas mission and finale are now unlocked from the beginning
• Resolved issue with Alexandros Mograine, Halduron Brightwing, Militia, Peasant, Sorceress bugged portrait talk animation
• Warlock Nagaz and Acolyte Grann model now have proper portrait talk animations
• Alexandros now uses an HD model of the Ashbringer (Thanks to Sarsaparilla)
• Fixed shading issue with Kael'thas model (Thanks neikyl)
• Kael'thas' floating arcane balls are now colored yellow instead of green
• Alexandros, Sally and Saidan now use the correct team color (Red) in certain levels and cinematics
• Added in-game portrait talk animations to all cinematics
• Toned down red vertex coloring of Dwarf Ironbreakers
• Fixed issue where Level 2 of Cleaving Attack does not carry over to the "The Battle for Andorhal"
• Fixed the quit cinematic trigger which uses the wrong boolean in the 'Secret Interlude'
• Fixed error where enemies do not appear in north and south portals in "When Fates Intertwine"
• Resolved issue where player can't finish "When Fates Intertwine" (Hopefully)
• Changed buff effect of Titanic Aura

This latest version includes a brand new level called "Light's Wrath"! This special side chapter expands on Saidan's growing frustration towards Highlord Mograine's influence on the Scarlet Crusade, and his quest to create new weapon that could rival the Ashbringer's power. It's a fun little romp through the Plaguelands!

 

[The Nightmare Book]

View attachment 555936

Ashbringer's Tale Retold has been updated to v1.01! Updates include:

• Added a brand new playable level, “Light’s Wrath”
• Fixed animation timing when characters walk
• Final Sylvanas mission and finale are now unlocked from the beginning
• Resolved issue with Alexandros Mograine, Halduron Brightwing, Militia, Peasant, Sorceress bugged portrait talk animation
• Warlock Nagaz and Acolyte Grann model now have proper portrait talk animations
• Alexandros now uses an HD model of the Ashbringer (Thanks to Sarsaparilla)
• Fixed shading issue with Kael'thas model (Thanks neikyl)
• Kael'thas' floating arcane balls are now colored yellow instead of green
• Alexandros, Sally and Saidan now use the correct team color (Red) in certain levels and cinematics
• Added in-game portrait talk animations to all cinematics
• Toned down red vertex coloring of Dwarf Ironbreakers
• Fixed issue where Level 2 of Cleaving Attack does not carry over to the "The Battle for Andorhal"
• Fixed the quit cinematic trigger which uses the wrong boolean in the 'Secret Interlude'
• Fixed error where enemies do not appear in north and south portals in "When Fates Intertwine"
• Resolved issue where player can't finish "When Fates Intertwine" (Hopefully)
• Changed buff effect of Titanic Aura

This latest version includes a brand new level called "Light's Wrath"! This special side chapter expands on Saidan's growing frustration towards Highlord Mograine's influence on the Scarlet Crusade, and his quest to create new weapon that could rival the Ashbringer's power. It's a fun little romp through the Plaguelands!

View attachment 555935View attachment 555933View attachment 555934View attachment 555932

I tried this new chapter already and, as always, it delivers the well-known humour of MedMapGuy.
One note: why are flesh giants immune? It's not a big problem, but they render Saidan and Abbendis' AOE spell cleaves in this way.
My humble video walkthrough:

 

[deepstrasz]

Light's Wrath

No bugs from me except for Abbendis' activated Divine Immolation which has a green square icon.
Would have liked the bosses to be more than just regular stronger units and have some scripted mechanics to them.

 

[QuarantineAbser]

In my opinion one of his best maps, probably the lore has to do it too, but I liked the models, terrain design, the visuals in general are amazing, @Med. MapGuy does not miss when it comes to that. The voices are amazing too, very natural, the missions were longer as well and I enjoyed every second of it. As usual I will list some of the issues I found

Difficulty: Hard, Date: 22.11.2025, Map Version: 1.01, Game Version: 2.0.3

Chapter 1:

• Thargas Q does not do damage, only stuns the target.
• Riflemen and Mechanostriders could not destroy the Explosive Barrels, had to do it with my Heroes
• Clearing the Way Quest stays Undiscovered in the Quest tab throughout the game
  

Chapter 2:

• After meeting Dreadlord Beltheris, Saidan lost a level, he went from 3 to 2.
• There is an Object Effect left on ground that is visible
  
• I managed to get my units through the trees on the right of the road down on the edge of the map (check circled area on the mini map) and killed the neutral mobs down there, this area should be revealed later, but there is gap in the trees, can't get my hero, but did get my units through.
  

Chapter 3:

• Tooltip of Inquisitors says 'Spellbreaker attacks', I know its taken from Spellbreaker unit, but still mentioning it.
  

Side Chapter 1:

• Brigitte Q does not throw the enemy units in the air like the Impale spell does, it stuns them on the ground instead, the stun is not visible though.
• Brigitte W is green after activation, missing icon I guess?
• There was 1 imprisoned Scarlet Abbot, and I bought 2 more from the Barracks. They are not shown in the same group, don't know why. Also mentioning it here, they are op, healing 20 hp to EVERYONE is insane.
  

Chapter 4:

• The names of the towns and places are gone after finishing the mission with the 'Destroy 0 out of 3 hoards'. I don't know if its specific to that mission, but I know there were names for everything on the map and there were none. Shown on the picture I remember it had name for the Farm and another on the right, Andorhal on the bottom, everything was gone pretty much.
  

Chapter 5:

• There is an Undiscovered Quest, I scanned the whole map and there was only 1 quest. Tell me if I missed something. But I found in your triggers that it is Anvilmar Ambush, when we aproach him, but I did save him and all, but the quest did not trigger. So either I did something to avoid the trigger or it is forgotten.
  
  

Side Chapter 2:

• 2 Undiscovered Codex left, but I still got the reward. The 2 missing were Notes, not Codex, but I think we needed all of them including Notes to get the reward in the previous ones. But I cannot remember since maybe I picked up the Codex last when I already had the Notes collected, just mentioning it. If it is Codex only it works fine.
  

And lastly in general of the difficulty, I played it on Hard and it was Medium to Easy for me, balancing takes a lot of time and testing, but I will always say it as I experienced it. Was very very enjoyable though and it is easy to make it frustrating with the difficulty.
The thing is the main guy which I still did not learn his name (lol) has Ashbringer which should be the hero guy, the insane guy, and it is true, it was very easy for me that I at one point decided to use only him to go through the mission, and I did it, I literally could complete the Cauldron mission solo with him, I made him such a beast with great items and a lot of tomes of Strength, his iconic spell Q, I used only 4 times since there were more Syndicate than Undead, and I had so big armies that he did not even lose hp or needed to use it lol, but his W is insane and does a lot of damage, and when low on hp just Q and u pretty much can kill whole armies with him, so pretty much I made it more fun for myself by just using him as an solo RPG hero vs everyone instead of using the HUGE army given to me and having to go through small choke points and everyone getting stuck.

 

[Med. MapGuy]

Thanks again to QuarantineAbser! I've uploaded a newly updated version! Hotfix includes:

• Improved difficulty settings, enemies in "Normal" and "Hard" now have upgraded HP and armor
• The quest entitled "Clearing the Way" is now visible in "Down the Scarlet Path"
• Added more pathing blockers in "Down the Scarlet Path" in supposedly unpassable terrain
• Overworld location markers in "When Fates Intertwine" after completing Dimgarde port quest are now visible
• Removed unnecessary quest in "The Battle for Andorhal"

 

[QuarantineAbser]

Added more pathing blockers in "Down the Scarlet Path" in supposedly unpassable terrain

Sorry, but I put it in the wrong Chapter, it was actually in Chapter 2: Trials of the Crusader (I edited the post now, it was put in Chapter 1 before). Sorry if I confused you and you were looking for trees in Chapter 1 , it is these trees in Chapter 2

 

[ChasingDawn0321]

Stories behind the scarlet crusade is always interesting. Can you make a campaign around how it was formed?

 

[Petrifikus]

This was an awesome doing. Loved every bit of it

 

[Kordan]

Hi, sadly it crushes on the into.

Then during the 1 mission intro cutscene.

Then ingame after the battle with the bears.

Mac Pro Sonoma 14.5

W3 2.0.3.23175

SD graphics setting.

;(

 

[Karak]

Feedback: Ashbringer's Tale Retold​

Game Version: Warcraft III: Reforged (2.0)
Map Version: Updated Nov 23, 2025

As with every project by Med. MapGuy, this campaign is absolutely outstanding.
From the music to the narrative structure, the way the lore is presented from alternative perspectives is incredibly engaging. The map design is excellent, and I was especially impressed by how well the skybox blends with the environment — something that often feels artificial in other campaigns, but here it was perfectly integrated.

The use of camera transitions is very well executed, greatly enhancing the cinematic experience. I also really enjoyed the references to heroes from other projects during interludes — these small details made the experience even more entertaining.

Additionally, I want to highlight Alexandros Mograine’s Exorcise ability. It feels incredibly satisfying to use, especially against undead units, and truly captures the essence of the Ashbringer. This level of attention to detail deserves special appreciation.

Overall, this is another high-quality production, and I’m giving it full marks as always.

Rating:

• Story & Lore:
• Gameplay:
• Visuals & Design:
• Audio & Voice Acting:
• Creativity & Originality:
• Technical Performance:
• Replayability:
• Overall Rating: (5/5)

 

[tulee]

Thought I would add some notes I wrote down from when I first played this campaign (version from September 2025, so some issues raised may have already been fixed):

Hidden

Opening
Nice cinematic scenes showing humans strategizing their movements to reclaim Lordaeron.
The ending scene showing Humans and Orcs on their horses/wolves rushing at each other is a homage to the original wc3 reforged trailer right?
Saidan is pretty arrogant, even though he's not possessed?

Ch1
Suddenly the entire map expands once we reach the camp ha-ha.
Dagul, the Orc near the explosives, only has a name in the cinematics but not in game. He's just another grunt or something in game.
Enemies with lightning shield in these tight passages are the scariest enemies to face when my priests don't have mana to dispel them.
Hit level 2 on heroes very fast. I was only 1/3 of the way through the map.
Officer Pureheart has a dirty chin for her model.
The main quest in f9 does not show the quest to kill those buildings in the Undead base.

Ch2
Lol, Saidan loses his battle right at the start.
Interesting seeing Saiden's actual personality, since most people assume he was evil because of being possessed, but we don't know much of if he was actually a good person or not under normal circumstances.
I like the town setting of Hearthglen, running around doing errands.
Nice to see the Gnolls and Kobolds fighting each other. More realistic than everyone against us.

Ch3
I like how you expand the map steadily as the mission progresses, so we not start with a massive map.
The main town hall was built far to the right of the base, maybe because my units were in the spot next to gold mine when the cutscene started?
Nice secret level with Illidan. Love how they suggested Joe be an ally for him via the vision stones, but Illidan did not want him as an ally at all.

Ch4
Love the cinematics, especially when Alexandros was talking and it showed the actual map picture of that area behind him.
Yay, we have another world map like your other campaigns. Love it!
I'm 100% sure Alexandros' kill Undead spell doesn't restore life to him at all. Also having him require less than full HP to use it in the first place is somewhat annoying since I always had my priests healing my heroes constantly, so I could not initiate fights with that spell until he had taken damage.
This is one of the best maps of the campaign, with all these sub maps.
Lol, Saidan breaking off from the Scarlet Crusade as the extremist faction is the opposite of the Argent breaking off from the Scarlet Crusade as the reasonable faction in the main lore.
Thank you for the W key to skip the 2nd and 3rd Demon portals not opening bug.

Ch5
Nice finale. My heroes were very overpowered, since I bought them all circlets of nobility from the missions where they had goblin merchants and gave all tomes to Alexandros. Also loved how we gained two levels of that hidden passive cleave spell for him throughout the campaign. I did not use the trebuchet ability he gets in this final mission at all though. Was not sure what the point of it was.

Ending
Very overpowered creature to use against the Crusaders. Love it
Got the +2 intel for Sylvanas before I had picked up all the codex(s). I think I was only halfway through them when I got it.
Charming one of Pureheart's guards causes the main quest to not end unless you kill the charmed unit itself, since it still counts as her forces being alive.



General Points
Fantastic humour and great cutscenes. I liked how there was many Easter Eggs linking it to your other campaigns, like visiting previous areas we visited in Joe's Quest, etc. The gameplay was also very engaging, and I looked forward to exploring all the maps. Your usage of boundaries for each map, hiding away parts that are not necessary until they are required, was top tier, and it enhanced the campaign greatly.
Thanks for sharing.