334 BC · Granicus River, Asia Minor
Alexander's first great victory in Asia, won by an immediate, aggressive cavalry charge across the river into the Persian satraps' line.
Alexander crossed into Asia in 334 BC with an army that was formidable but not large, and with debts that made a long campaign impossible. He needed a quick victory.
The Persian satraps of Asia Minor gathered to meet him at the Granicus. Memnon of Rhodes, their Greek mercenary commander, advised burning the country and refusing battle; the satraps, whose land it was, refused.
They drew up on the far bank with cavalry along the water and their Greek mercenary infantry behind. Alexander attacked across the river almost at once, into a defended crossing — the thing every manual says not to do.
He went in at the head of the Companion cavalry, aiming at the Persian nobles rather than at the line, and the fighting turned into a melee of horsemen in which he was nearly killed. The satraps' cavalry broke; the mercenary infantry, left standing, was surrounded and cut down.
The Granicus opened Asia Minor. Its cities came over one after another, and Alexander gained the coast, the treasuries and the momentum that carried him to Issus the following year.
The scenario rewards commitment: Macedon's strength lies in striking early and at the enemy's leaders, Persia's in what it can hold and organise if it is given time.
The commanders, the sides and the character of the attack are historical. The card pool and the turn economy are the game's own, not a reconstruction of the crossing.