Steamtank Surprise

Quest Giver: Duke August Foehammer — Thorson’s Post [90, 46], Dragonblight

Turn In: Ambo Cash — inside Wintergarde Mausoleum [85, 50], Dragonblight

Objective: Use an Alliance Steam Tank to destroy 6 Plague Wagons in the Carrion Fields, then deliver the 7th Legion Elites to Wintergarde Mausoleum. All three crew members must survive.

Walkthrough

Foehammer briefs you on a seek-and-destroy mission: “You’ll be driving a tank into the Carrion Fields to dismantle Scourge plague wagons. With the tank comes a crew of three 7th Legion soldiers. All must survive if this mission is to succeed!”

Step 1: Mount the Steamtank. The Alliance Steam Tanks are parked near Foehammer at [90, 46]. Enter one to replace your action bar with four vehicle abilities:

• Ability 1: Cannon — ranged attack against Scourge mobs.
• Ability 2: Freeze — immobilizes nearby attackers.
• Ability 3: Deploy Engineer — dispatches the gnome engineer to sabotage a Plague Wagon. This is how you destroy wagons.
• Ability 4: Drop Off Soldiers — delivers the 7th Legion Elites at the Mausoleum. Only use this at the end.

Step 2: Destroy 6 Plague Wagons. Drive into the Carrion Fields and locate the Plague Wagons scattered across the area. For each wagon:

• Position your tank close to the wagon.
• Use Ability 3 (Deploy Engineer) to send the gnome out to sabotage it.
• The gnome needs to be close enough to reach the wagon. If dispatched too far away, the gnome may stand idle and the wagon can despawn without giving credit.
• Use Ability 1 (Cannon) and Ability 2 (Freeze) to keep Scourge mobs off your tank while the gnome works.

Step 3: Deliver the Soldiers. After all 6 wagons are destroyed, drive to the Wintergarde Mausoleum at [85, 50]. This is the building in the middle of the ruined area, not the small hole in the ground at [82, 50].

• Use Ability 4 (Drop Off Soldiers) when positioned at the Mausoleum entrance.
• IMPORTANT: Destroy all wagons BEFORE dropping off soldiers. Using Ability 4 ends the vehicle phase and you lose the tank. If you still have wagons remaining, you’ll need to go back for a new tank.

Step 4: Meet Ambo Cash. Enter the Mausoleum on foot and speak to Ambo Cash inside to turn in.

Quick Facts

• Faction: Alliance only
• Quest Level: 73
• Prerequisite: Into Hostile Territory
• Chain Position: Quest 2 of 9 in the Thel’zan/Mausoleum chain (Into Hostile Territory → Steamtank Surprise → Scattered to the Wind → The Chain Gun And You → Plunderbeard Must Be Found! → Plunderbeard’s Journal → Chasing Icestorm: The 7th Legion Front → Chasing Icestorm: Thel’zan’s Phylactery → Finality)

Tips

• Common Bug: Gnome won’t deploy. If the engineer refuses to leave the tank or stands idle repeatedly, this is often caused by third-party action bar addons (Bartender, Dominos, etc.). Fix: log out, disable addons, log back in, and grab a fresh tank.
• Action bar not showing vehicle abilities? If you use Bartender or similar, hold SHIFT + mouse wheel to scroll through action bar pages until the vehicle abilities appear.
• Wrong mausoleum location. Don’t waste your time at the small crypt at [82, 50]. The correct building is at [85, 50], in the center of the ruined area further east.
• Hostile players (PvP servers). An opposing-faction player can attack you directly (not the tank), which ejects you from the vehicle. Avoid Horde players if possible, as losing the tank means starting over.

Lore & Story Context

Ambo Cash: James Bond of the 7th Legion

The turn-in NPC introduces himself with: “Name’s Cash. Ambo Cash. And the pleasure is all yours.” This is a direct parody of James Bond’s signature introduction.

“Why I’m not wearing any pants isn’t important. Let’s just say I took some Scourge shrapnel in the wrong place and leave it at that, ok?”

Cash serves as the 7th Legion’s forward commander inside the Mausoleum and gives the next several quests in the chain.

Crew Chatter: Worldbuilding on Wheels

The 7th Legion soldiers riding your tank trade dialogue throughout the mission, providing atmospheric worldbuilding:

• “Driver, I hear you single-handedly airlifted our villagers out of this hell-hole. Is that true?” (referencing the Flight of the Wintergarde Defender quest)
• “So does anyone know anything about Thel’zan? Who is he? How did he come to leading the Scourge armies on the ground?” (foreshadowing the chain’s main antagonist)
• “I’ve never seen destruction like this…”
• “Look at this mess… The Scourge will pay for this!”
• “Keep the chatter down, people. We need to stay alert!”

The soldiers reference your earlier accomplishments and ask questions about Thel’zan that the upcoming questline will answer.

Thel’zan the Duskbringer is actually the former Father Inigo Montoy (a Princess Bride reference), a priest who failed to destroy Kel’Thuzad‘s phylactery and was “rewarded” with undeath.

Easter Egg: The Thandol Span Confession

The gnome engineer you deploy to sabotage wagons drops a remarkable line during the mission: “Did I ever tell you soldiers about the time I destroyed the Thandol Span? Yep, weren’t no Dark Irons destroyed that bridge. Was me!”

The Thandol Span is one of Classic WoW’s most iconic landmarks: two massive dwarven bridges connecting the Wetlands to Arathi Highlands. One bridge has been half-destroyed since vanilla, and the Classic questline pins the sabotage on Dark Iron dwarves working under Kam Deepfury.

But this gnome engineer casually claims the 7th Legion did it. 7th Legion Siege Engineers claim they were the ones who destroyed one of the bridges of Thandol Span, instead of the Dark Iron dwarves.

Do Alongside

• If you haven’t completed the Wintergarde Keep chains yet, those quests also take place in or near the Carrion Fields.