Old Soldiers

Old Soldiers is the last Char mission in Heart of the Swarm.

Sarah Kerrigan takes her forces against General Horace Warfield's base, eventually destroying it.

Background
Jim Raynor assembled all the pieces of a xel'naga device capable of removing zerg infestation. Backed up by Dominion forces under Valerian Mengsk and General Horace Warfield, Raynor journeyed to Char and de-infested Sarah Kerrigan.

Failing to assassinate Kerrigan through Tychus Findlay, Arcturus Mengsk employed his ghosts, led by Nova, with the task of infiltrating the facilities where Kerrigan was held captive and kill her. In spite of this, Kerrigan escaped, but her beloved Raynor was left behind. Later, an UNN broadcast informed Raynor had been taken into custody and executed.

Having realized that there would never be rest so long as Arcturus Mengsk was allowed to live, Sarah Kerrigan endeavored on a mission to retake back her swarm in order to remove Mengsk's threat once and for all. She returned to Char and persuaded the broodmother Za'gara to serve her once more.

Old Soldiers
Having eliminated the threat of Warfield's Gorgon battlecruisers, Kerrigan moved to Dauntless Plateau to destroy General Warfield's fortress. Warfield deployed his nuclear arsenal against the zerg, but not even this was enough to stop their advance. With the aberrations Kerrigan pushed through all the defenses and eventually overwhelmed them.

Conscience
"How many innocents have you killed? How many more have to die? What if Raynor could see you right now?"

- General Horace Warfield confronts Kerrigan.

A few terran survived the onslaught and boarded escape shuttles. Warfield instructed them to flee with the wounded, but the zerg were barring their way. The Dominion general confronted Kerrigan and demands that she let the transports escape even going so far as to accuse her of throwing away her humanity and Raynor's efforts to save her, asking what he would think of her actions. The wound of Raynor's death reopened, Kerrigan brutally finishes the terran commander in a fit of pain-driven rage. Afterwards, however, she orders the zerg to let the shuttles take flight.



Gameplay and Walkthrough
For the first several minutes of the mission, the player will command Kerrigan with a swarm of zerglings and banelings. Zagara will send regular reinforcements during this period. Using these forces the player has a few minutes to cause as much damage to the Dominion as possible before Warfield calls down a nuclear strike and forces them to retreat. Use Kerrigan's Kinetic Grip to focus down strong enemies, and banelings to break up clusters of enemies, in order to minimize casualties and thus maximize damage. On higher difficulty levels the player may encounter thors as well, which should be focused down by Kerrigan's Kinetic Grip and a handful of zerglings. The player has two potential targets, Dominion auxiliary outposts to the north or south. The northern base is heavier defended, but is a rich mineral site, so it is up to the player's preference. However, there will not be enough time to free both bases entirely.

Once time is up, whatever forces the player commanded are removed, and they receive control of Zagara's base. From now on in the mission Warfield will target the player's army for a nuclear strike at regular intervals. These nukes can target the player's army wherever they may be and do not need ghosts to be aimed, so the only course is to flee before the nuke falls. Warfield will launch conventional attacks both from the ground and from the air over the north-eastern cliff at the player's base, so the player will need anti-air support.

The player should move in to the exposed expansion they freed earlier, and spread creep quickly to watch for incoming attacks. Warfield's forces are comprised heavily of ground-based armored troops, so the new aberrations are powerful in this mission. In tandem with numbers of zerglings and swarm queens for support ranged fire, the player should be able to sweep across the rest of the map and eliminate Warfield's auxiliary bases to seize the second expansion if needed. Once the player has a large enough army, they can assault Warfield's compound. The mission ends once the command building is destroyed.

The optional objective for this mission is to destroy two science facilities. They are each located near the two expansion points under a light garrison. Destroying them rewards two additional Kerrigan levels.