Brgthng 1, Cycle 1, Month of Kalendryas, in the Season of Winter,
Era I of the Celestine Mandate,
Era XV Post Fractum
The Taralon Front. It was what the orcs called it. The shortest route from Taralon to Ire itself was traveling upon the Narim Trade route then turning north toward the orkish fortress. Being the shortest route, it was also the most heavily fortified of the orc positions. Looking at the Front from the Taralon side (looking west) all that is visible is a large forest. In front of this forest is a long network of abattis.
Cheap and fast to assemble, these prickly looking obstacles were a perfect defensive structure against large groups of massed soldiers. Most of the abattis were simply felled trees with all of the branches groomed to point in one direction and the ends of the branches sharpened. Not only did they defend against masses of men but also horses. Small groups of men could run through a line of abattis but they would have to wind their way around each layer of them and moving from side-to-side instead of headlong forward. This made those men perfect targets for any missile troops in the woods just behind the abattis front.
There had been wood watchtowers spotted in the trees and also at the more open areas on the flanks. Some towers were actually made of stone and were big enough to hold at least 3 or 4 orcs inside them. What other defenses were within the forest as unknown. The Front stretched from up in the Khardran foothills all the way down to the Hills of Peda. Orcs had been spotted by earlier recon so the Imperials knew that some force inhabited this line but to what extent was anyone's guess.
The flanks of the Taralon Front were anchored on two sets of natural defensive positions, the Khardran on one side and the Peda Hills on the other though no real recon had been able to get close enough to either to determine if they were actually inhabited. The Khardran has long been the stomping grounds of the orcs and they no doubt had a nasty surprise for anyone that were actually successful in approaching the crest of the range to threaten the orc's left. The smaller Hills of Peda were another story. They had long been outside the orc's patrol range, in fact they were right on the southern boundary of their range. Now it was firmly in their hands.