Fall of Hispania

The Fall of Hispania was a brief but costly war fought between the Orcs of Africanas on one side, and the Roman Empire and towards the end the Kingdom of Bretonia. The conflict shocked the human kingdoms of Europe, who while they knew of Orcs through the experiances of Gondor they had no idea they were as numerous as they discovered them to be. This conflict would not encite the true involvement of the humans of Europe, and it was basically left to Bretonia, and the few deployed armies of Rome to deal with the millions of Orcs that sprang across the Strait.

The actual Fall of Hispania was begun years before the actual Battles took place, and as scary as it is to believe that the Orcs are so strategic they planned the campaign for many years. While the Romans were being obliterated in Africanas, the Orcs were constructing a massive bridge across the Straits of Gibralter and with its construction the Orcs sprange across the bridge and built up huge numbers in the southern part known as Gibralter. As the advanced more skilled Orcs infililtrated the Roman villages and wiped them out without alerting anyone to their presence the Orcs had massed some where around three million Orcs on the southern shore and when they finnally attacked the Roman Armies would be left flat footed and thousands died in their fortresses with little to no returns. The Romans would send in six Legions as reinforcements in an attempt to stall the Orcs advance while they built up the defences of Valencia, Tourone, and Castile but each of these Legions would either be pushed back or destroyed by the overwhelming Orc advance. With the Fall of the resistence the Orcs made a straight line for Castile, and this scared the Bretonians so much that they flooded into Hispania and made full speed towards Castile. The Bretonians were slowed down by the constant battles and because of this they arrived days to late, and watched as Castile fell and with it the hope of a human Hispania. With Castile gone the Orcs rampaged towards Valencia, and Andorra where they would come to fight massive battles which for the first time went against them as they discovered the Bretonians were able fighters with competent commanders unlike the Romans.

Initial Invasion
The Orcs inability to swim, or craft any sort of boat meant that the Romans had left this region dangerously undermanned. In fact there were more soilders garrisoning the small italian town of briensia, of which shared no border with any hostile nation, then there were in the town of Grenada. As well as this undermanned garrison the original site of Grenada was far enough back from the beach and the crossing that the soilders couldn't see the crossing. For years the Orcs had been constructing a land bridge across the Straits of Girbralter. This bridge would be used by the Orcs to open up a new front in Europe, as they were being stalled in Africanas by the Nubians, and the Tomb Kings.

Fall of Grenada
When the Orc landbridge was completed the Orcs began forming armies on the Spanish side. The Orc armies spilled into Grenada in what is called the First Battle of Grenada, although what happened is hard to call a battle. As the advanced more skilled Orcs infililtrated the Roman villages and wiped them out without alerting anyone to their presence the Orcs had massed some where around three million Orcs on the southern shore and when they finnally attacked the Roman Armies would be left flat footed and thousands died in their fortresses with little to no returns. The first to fall in a massive ambush was Grenade who fell in the First Battle of Grenada. The Orcs surrounded the now defenceless town, and from all sides overwhelmed the entire city of some sixty thousand. With Grenada gone the rest of Hispania was slowly alerted as some of the people of Grenada had managed to get Ravens with messages out of the city. With the rest alerted and the three Legions that were in Hispania moved towards Grenada in the hopes of quickly ending the Orcish threat.

Counter-attack
The Orcs had such numbers and such a large element of suprise that the Fall of Grenada was nearly complete a week after the fall of Grenada, and thus when a week later the 5th Legion arrived at Grenada they found themselves slowly surrounded by the massive Orc forces, and when finally the commanders ordered a retreat they found their paths blocked. Facing continues attacks from all sides they built defences in a large ravine and fought off the Orcs for some two weeks while the other two Legions sped towards the area. The 10th Legion was days away when it was harried by a large force of Orcs nearly twice its size. As the 10th attempted to get by them they discovered that the Orcs were blocking them from reaching the 5th Legion, and thus they realized for the first time the strategic mind of the Orcs. These two armies moved back and forth for days before the Orcs realized the situation was gone for the 5th so they moved south towards the port of Halencia, and sacked it while the 10th moved towards the 5th Legion. While the 10th had been delayed the 6th Legion had faced no difficulties in its arrival and moved to the northwest of the 5ths fortified position. The 6th attacked heavily this side and opened it for nearly five days while they allowed the 5th to retreat out of their death trap. With themselves about to be surrounded the 6th left the remainder of the 5th to defeat and retreated out of the region towards Castile. With their hope gone the remainder of the 5th Legion was massacred by the overwhelming Orc Force, and thus the south of Hispania was gone.



Reinforcements
The Romans would send in six Legions as reinforcements in an attempt to stall the Orcs advance while they built up the defences of Valencia, Tourone, and Castile. At the beggining of the conflict their had been the three legions that were in HIspania and with the six incoming Legions their was little thought amongst the top tier of leadership that loss was even a possibility but when one looks at the situation closer it become more dangerous.

Legions in HIspania
10th Legion - The 10th Legion had made full speed towards Grenada but by the time it arrived the situation was gone there so it moved back towards Castile. Basically at full strength

5th Legion - The Fifth Legion had made full speed towards Grenada and when it arrived it had allowed itself to be surrounded and was nearly wiped out. Nearly broken as a legion with strength at less then 15%.

6th Legion - The 6th Legion had attempted to rescue the 5th Legion from its trapped position and while it was the reason for its survival it took heavy casualities in the effort. Legion stands at 75% strength

Legions Incoming
1st Legion - The First Legion was once the pride and joy of the Roman Army but its legacy was tarnished during the Fall of Africanas and thus its leadership was primed to do great things in the Hispania theater. The strength of the legion was some where around 200,000 of which very few were experianced due to the near complete loss they had suffered during the Fall of Africanas.

13th Legion - The 13th had risen from being irrelevent to importance under the leadership of Lucius Vorenus, and it had been training effectively from the days following their retreat from Africanas till they were ordered to move to Hispania. The strength of the Legion sat around 130,000 and it was the most battle hardened of the Legions.

4th Legion - The 4th Legion had suffered horrible losses during the Fall of Africanas and had difficulty rebuilding following that conflict meaning it was well led by Titus Pulo but it was at a weakened strength, though the remaining troops were all very elite, and well trained. Strength of the Legion stood at 82,000.

2nd Legion - The Second Legion had been on garrison duty at Ravenna before being sent to Ravenna and it left nearly half of its force behind in Ravenna when they couldn't raise their full army. Full Strength was somewhere around 130,000 but only 65,000 made it to Hispania.

9th Legion - The 9th Legion was renowned for its victory during the taking of Siciliy but it had done little recently and its command structure was filled with beauracrats with little knowledge of war. Its strength was around 150,000

17th Legion - The 17th Legion was the smallest Legion in the Roman Army and was before being sent to Hispania responsible for the defence of Cordoba. Its strength was some where around 70,000.

The Legions arrived in Valencia and begin moving towards their respective spots but in an unfortuante turn of events the 13th Legion under Lucius Vorenus, and the 4th Legion under Titus Pulo would be stuck in Ravenna at port and didn't arrive until it was too late for them to reach Castile, and thus two Legions meant to defend Valencia moved towards Castile. These seven Legions fighting at Castile (of which included the basically destroyed 5th Legion in reserve attempted delaying tactics for nearly a month, but each battle left them more and more drained and they were less and less effective. With the overall front gone the ravens were sent from the high command to begin pulling back towards Castile or if that was unavailable then Toulose, or Valencia. With this in mind the different Legions all attempted to retreat with very different results.



The Retreat
The 2nd Legion managed to escape west towards Portugal, and it sucked off a portion of the Orcs that followed them as they retreated at full speed towards Tourone. The 9th Legion would be massacred by the Orcs as they had been the last to recieve the ravens and thus they were nearly completely surrounded by the time they recieved the word that they were too retreat. The 10th Legion would escape very well and would be the only full strength Legion able to make it inside the Legion and inside the city they joined the 5th Legion in defence of the massive city. The 17th Legion would nearly suffer the same fate as the 9th but parts of it survived and fled northeast at a skeleton size of a Legion towards Valencia. The 6th Legion managed to retreat effectively and made its way to Castile at first but it watched as the massive Orc armies surrounded the city, and thus they decided to retreat north and hide out in the mountains in the hope of releaving the city once the siege properly began. The final legion in the 1st Legion would flee eastward effectively and would meet up with the newly arrived 13th, and 4th Legions in Valencia.



Fall of Castille
With the Fall of the resistence the Orcs made a straight line for Castile, and the massive millions strong Orcs Army surrounded the city and put it under siege. For days they hammered at the city but the stalwart defenders in the 10th Legion, and what little remained of the 5th Legion would succesfully hold them off under the mistaken belief that the other three legions were on their way to releave them. These early days of the Orc attack were massive with hundreds of thousands of Orcs rampaging at the City in an attempt to take it out quickly. It was hard fought battles but when the dust settled the Orcs had lost massive numbers and the defenders still survived although they too were greatly diminished. When no word reached them of people coming for them they sent Ravens out and hoped that someone would come for them because they had no hope of maintaining this for a protracted period of time. While the others wanted to come to their assistence they were being hammered as well by Orcs attempting to break into the Valencia region and thus couldn't break out.



Calling for Aid
With no resistence coming Lucius Vorenus sent a raven to Bretonia where he said in the letter that Castile was going to fall if the Bretonians did not advance and assist them. Upon reading the letter the Bretonian King is said to have wept tears at the precarious situation that Europe had found itself in, and with all the news shifting in to his throne room he was sure that the letter was authentic. The War had been so short in duration that the Bretonians never thought things could have gotten so bad so quick, and as they poured over maps showing the location of Castille and how dangerously close it and Valencia were to the Bretonian border their were many in the court that believed that they needed to intervene before the monsters were on their doorstep. On top of this the construction projects that were underway in Andorra were not even close to ready and the Bretonians would need more time to upgrade their defences in the end if they hoped to defend themselves. With all of this in mind the Bretonians were scared so much that they flooded into Hispania and made full speed towards Castile.

Bretonians Invade
The Bretonians entered the north east of Hispania to the scene of a constant stream of humans fleeing east and north away from the Monsters, and this alone scared them but when the massive Bretonian force first ran into an Orc force they truly knew fear. What became clear after this first conflict was that the mounted theme of the Bretonians was a definite problem for the Orcs as they had no mobile elements to their armies that would be at all fearful to the Bretonians and as such their infantry was often simply chasing after them as they were cut down by the mounted archer fire. As the Bretonians were slowed by constant Battles the 10th and 5th Legion continued to hold in Castille but each day their was another attack, and finally three weeks into the siege the Orcs broke through the eastern gate and spilled into the city. As the Orcs spilled inside the Bretonians were less then two days away but it didn't matter as over the course of the night and the next day the 10th and 5th Legion were massacred in a series of last stands throughout the city. When the Bretonians reached the point were they could see the city they watched sadly as the city burned, and they knew they were too late. The Bretonians with this knowledge turned tail and begin to return to Andorra where everyone knew the fate of the War would be dealt with.



Orc Advance halted at Andorra
With Castile gone the Orcs rampaged towards Valencia, and Andorra where they would come to fight massive battles which for the first time went against them as they discovered the Bretonians were able fighters with competent commanders unlike the Romans. On top of this the Orcs had no anwser for the nearly completely mounted armies of the Bretonians and they were increasingly being absolutely destroyed by the Bretonians with minimal to no losses against the Bretonians. The three sides fought constant battles and with Lucius Vorenus now having complete control the Romans were fighting more effectively and thus Valencia was a no go for the Orcs. The Orcs attemtped to overwhelm the Bretonians but once again were taking horrible casualties and being forced to stop and go too much. Despire all of this the massive Orc army continued its movement north, and this led to them attacking the large Bretonian city of Antoine. Antione was built in Numeron style and was the last major fort before the orcs were able to attack into France. The Bretonians knew that the number of Orcs meant they could not hold the city for long, so instead they decided to ambush the orcs by concealing the entire bretonian advance army in the mountains to the west. This ambush would lead to the First Battle of Antoine. This ambush would destroy the main Orc force, and the death of most of the top Orc leaders as well.

Aftermath
Following this defeat, the Orcs stopped there attacks, and began to rebuild there losses. The Romans, and Bretonians had in this moment a brief chance to take the offensive and perhaps drive back the Orcs, but instead they argued over whether to attack the Castile Region, or simply rush Grenada. in the end by the time they decided on there course of action the Orcs were rebuilt and were already overruning Andorra. This would lead to the incredibly damaging War in France.