Ecnomus 256 BC

"Meanwhile the carthaginian commanders had briefly adressed their men. They pointed out to them that victory in this battle would ensure the war in the future being confined to the question of the possession of Sicily; while if they were beaten they would have hereafter to fight for their native land and for all that they held dear."
Polybius, Histories, book I.

 We wrap up the year with this first punic war battle, the romans are deployed in four divisions forming an arrowhead while the carthaginians advance in a crescent

 The Romans fan out from their formation while the punic flanks advance

 Keeping their center behind

 The advance punic ships turn towards the center

 While the romans launch their wings against the enemy

 Superior numbers board and sink this carthaginian monoreme

 While superior skill carries the day in this combat

 In the punic turn a quinquereme smashes apart a light galley

 In the other flank another roman monoreme is run down

 An african galley sinks burned out by artillery fire

 Moving backwards, a roman ship boards and sinks the last enemy monoreme

 Another roman goes down to a blaze

 An unfortunate roman ship is rammed and sunk

 But the romans keep launching effective boarding actions with their corvi, and soon the first punic quinquereme is taken by assault

 Followed by another

 Her crew depleted by legionary swords, this ship sunks blazing from stem to stern

 The oportunistic romans gang up on the isolated flanking ships, swamping the deck with legionaries

 With the enemy trapped by the corvus the italians have a field day butchering the crews

 Even through fire the crew of the roman flagship takes her foe down

 In the right flank another carthaginian surrenders

 The legions cut a bloody path through the center too, sinking ship after ship

 The retreating ships on the punic left flank are caugh by the corvi and swept away

 The mobile triremes help tip some combats Rome's way

Despite the roman superiority a lone punic galley manages to win a boarding, sinking one foe

 Battle comes to an end with the remaining carthaginians scattered amongst the roman squadrons

For a loss of only six galleys the romans have destroyed no less than 14, a decisive victory worthy of a triumph for the two consuls sharing the command!

The vengeance of Klovis

 Justly wrathful after the failed attempt on his life, the Redeemer launched an assault on the last mutant holdout in the hive, the den of thieves and recidivists known as The Hideout

 We advanced steadfastly into that wellspring of corruption, some of our bounty hunters taking cover from the heavy defensive fire

 Klovis left two juves to guard our base, which soon came under siege

 The Redeemer led a vailant relief force that clashed with the reckless attackers

 Taking down the mutant boss in glorious single combat

 I joined too the attack on the enemy icon-fane

 But it was the reliable merc Alpha that cut the blasphemous emblem to pieces with her powersword

 The Redeemer took battle to the foe, cleansing their evil from the hive with gouts of fiery death

 Fruitless heretical attempts into our sacred relic where blunted by faith and fire

 Bellowing an oath of faith our magnificent messiah cut down the deviants like the chaff they where

 Even our penny-pinching allies joined in the slaughter, taking down a number of sinners

 Master Bruiser blasted left and right with his heavy stubber, sending an heretical wyrd to hell

 The mauled mutants could do little but drag themselves forwads until killed off

 Novice and Templar joined in the joyous slaughter of the repugnant heathens

I myslef gave the Emperor's mercy to the last of their number

And by the will of the Master of Mankind after the battle all the hive was in our hands

The Phalanx arrives!

 Fortress Monastery and home to the Imperial Fists the Phalanx is a massive space station that brings the fury of the sons of Dorn across the galaxy, a relic of the Dark Age of Technology restored by the hand of Rogal Dorn and which acted as mobile base to his sons during the Crusade and darker times

 She's entirely scratchbuilt from leftover bits and bases

 Row upon row of engines push the Phalanx through the void

 The sides bristle with battery and lance turrets

 Crowning the superstructure is the command basilica

 Marine 2000pts fleet

Imperial 3000pts fleet