If you use these images as navigation links(LOL, it's weird, but let it be), then you should use pics because it's not that easy to navigate through your gallery. Or you have to inline those captions. In your way it looks rather strange, I would never like this user experience. For example, if I want to see all those pictures with their figcaptions, then I need to click at first image, see its figcaption, then second, third... and on fourteen I would be irritated because I have to scroll down and find next image each time. Pics would be a much better solution in this case.