King Pyrrhus of Epirus (318-272 B.C.) wrote himself into common speech by winning such costly battles against the Romans in southern Italy that the term Pyrrhic victory was coined after him: "One more victory like this, and we're lost." However, less renowned are the events leading up to Pyrrhus' involvement in Italy: Of how the rich Greek colony city Tarentum, with its fleet the strongest in all of Italy, signed a treaty with Rome that forbade them entering the Bay of Tarentum. Of how a Roman flotilla broke this treaty, and then was ruthlessly attacked by the angered Tarentines. And of the failed Roman embassy to Tarentum, which ended in disgrace and a declaration of war, whereupon the Tarentines realized that entering into war with the strongest power on land in all of Italy without allies backing them was a horrible idea. Which in turn led them to invite Pyrrhus, who rapidly took full control of Tarentum and drilled its young men for war, much to the Tarentines' dismay. As Polybius gives us the flavour of, this was an age boiling with war at every side (my italics): Now this particular incident of shaming the ambassadors of Rome is a gutsy one. One deserving of wider fame. Enter, the work of Appian of Alexandria, whose writings survive as fragments in Byzantine tomes. Pay special attention to part 16: Now, anyone up for a fantasy diorama based based upon the exploits of Philonides of Tarentum? Or a 40k version, for that matter, given Ian Watson's textual corpus in this setting?
Oh no, you misunderstood me. I'm happy to view a good diorama. Making it is out of my price range currently