Target Locked: Celestis Annihilator Online
Sleep is for the weak (or at least for people not running Kickstarters). Time for another late-night update!
At £55K, we’ve unlocked the final ruin in this stretch — the Imperial Commune Enclave Ruins.
Originally designed to act as standalone settlements (similar to the towns and villages of Campaign 01), the Enclaves also work brilliantly when placed together to form sprawling districts - especially as urban sprawl at the edges of Hive Cities. And with the £15K Enclave Toppers unlock, they’ve gained even more flexibility for building vertically as toppers.
Now, with the ruined versions unlocked, you can use these settlements to tell stories of collapse, displacement, or decay from within.
Where a shattered power plant might mark a tactical loss, and a broken fortress suggests a military turning point — the Enclave Ruins speak to civilian cost.
These aren’t frontlines, they’re what’s left behind when the front moves on.
Maybe these districts will be reclaimed. Maybe they’ll become lawless pockets of resistance, scavenger strongholds, or secret staging grounds.
With this unlock, the Ruination Phase comes to a close.
Five ruined tile sets. Five markers of a world falling apart.
The road to £60K is nearly complete - and what comes next might just change how you play, not just how you build.
With so many stretch goals unlocked, we thought it was the perfect time to start a new section of the updates: Tile Spotlights.
These short deep-dives give us a chance to show off some of our favourite designs up close - not just what they look like, but the thought process behind them.
First up? A free sample tile you can try for yourself and one of the most powerful icons of the setting: the Celestis Annihilator Cannon.
This was one of the first tiles we designed for Imperia Hexica. From the very start, we knew we wanted to include a gigantic, hex-sized artillery piece, something that would capture the sheer scale, power, and grim ambition of the setting. It had to feel strategic, cinematic, and like something that demanded attention the moment it hit the board.
The Annihilator draws inspiration from classic RTS games like Command & Conquer and Supreme Commander, where static superweapons could change the flow of the entire game.
I remember playing Supreme Commander, many years ago (I still think of it as being relativily new.. yikes) - but there was something always uniquely satisfying about watching shells fire from one end of the map to the other - tiny dots arcing across a minimap before wiping out entire enemy formations.
And, of course, it would be impossible not to mention the colossal cannons of Warhammer 40k, which have long stood as symbols of overwhelming force and architectural excess.
We wanted to channel that same energy, something that didn’t just look cool, but that felt narratively consequential.
The Celestis Annihilator stands at the heart of a volatile stronghold - flanked by toxic geothermal pools, backed by jagged mountains, and supplied by a looming munitions forge. This is no relic... it's a fully operational weapon of war, daring anyone to take it.
The Celestis Annihilator uses a classic “wedding cake” tiered design, common in large hex tile structures, with each layer building up toward a central, monolithic cannon. The lower levels serve as a reinforced base, giving the weapon both physical presence and a sense of believable engineering. After all, a gun this size would need to survive firing without launching itself into low orbit.
Its silhouette is unmistakable: a wide, imposing foundation topped with a massive barrel - easily identifiable on the map at a glance. But it’s not just a gun. Visible entry points, layered walkways, and heavy structural detailing help ground it as a building in its own right. It’s a place, a facility, not just a prop.
From a narrative standpoint, we didn’t want to look like it was locked it into one specific function. Instead, the Annihilator is designed to be versatile:
A precision anti-armour behemoth, capable of tearing through hardened targets
A planetary defence weapon, aimed skyward to threaten orbital invaders
An intercontinental mortar, striking across continents with terrifying reach
In a grand campaign setting with multiple players, the Celestis Annihilator could be a true game-changer, the kind of objective players scramble to secure, sabotage, or destroy. Imagine one faction taking control of the cannon and using it to tip the scales of war across an entire region.
You’re mid-battle in the wargame of your choice, everything going to plan — when the campaign organiser interrupts with a grim update:
“Your army has been targeted by the Annihilator.”
Safe to say, if the cannon fires, your force will be left in a smouldering crater. Better luck in the next engagement.
But now the real tension begins because you and your allies know what’s coming. A desperate scramble begins: storm the cannon directly, sabotage the factories producing its ammunition, or sever the power supplied to it by a distant energy hub. Whatever it takes.
It’s not just a tile. It’s the kind of threat that shifts priorities, forms uneasy alliances, and drives entire subplots.
That’s it for today’s update: a new ruin unlocked, a phase completed, and a closer look at a tile that perfectly captures the spirit of Imperia Hexica. We’ll be back soon with more reveals, more tile spotlights, and (fingers crossed) a very exciting stretch goal announcement once we hit £60k.
As always, thank you for your continued support, your enthusiasm, and your ideas - they genuinely shape how this campaign grows.
If you’ve got any questions about tiers, add-ons, or anything else, don’t hesitate to drop us a message and we’ll get back to you as soon as we can.
Keep it hexy,
Dan & Jax