"Question for JJArtist on Granicus" Topic

Jeff
I am working on a workable OB for Battle of Granicus for "War & Conquest" rules based upon your Alexander the Great supplement for WAB, and I have a couple of questions:
1) The OB lists "Satrapal Guard Cavalry (Cilician) – who are these guys? I don't see a listing for Satrapal Guards in the army list. Are they just the normal satrap cavalry?
2) The OB lists Persian/Mede cavalry, but the army list calls Medes Satrapal levy cavalry. Which one was intended?
3) Regarding Memnon: Some accounts I have found on line suggest he commanded left flank cavalry? Do you think he did this or did he stay with Greek Hoplites?

4) I found this: link
which is one of a couple of accounts I have found that suggest the battle wasn't a river crossing, but that Alexander crossed during night. Your thoughts?

Historian Peter Green, in his 1974 book Alexander of Macedon, proposed a way to reconcile the accounts of Diodorus and Arrian. According to Green's interpretation, the riverbank was guarded by infantry, not cavalry, and Alexander's forces sustained heavy losses in the initial attempt to cross the river and were forced to retire. Alexander then grudgingly accepted Parmenion's advice and crossed the river during the night in an uncontested location, and fought the battle at dawn the next day. The Persian army hurried to the location of Alexander's crossing, with the cavalry reaching the scene of the battle first before the slower infantry, and then the battle continued largely as described by the Arrian and Plutarch accounts. Green accounts for the differences between his account and the ancient sources by suggesting that Alexander later covered up his initial failed crossing. Green devotes an entire appendix in support of his interpretation, taking the view that for political reasons, Alexander could not admit even a temporary defeat. Thus, the initial defeat was covered up by his propagandists by a very heroic (and Homeric) charge into the now well-deployed enemy. In his preface to the 2012 reprint, Green states: "on the evidence as it stands that theory remains untenable and the contradiction inexplicable."[12]

I would say those OB lists have a couple of issues- thanks for catching them after all these years.

1) The OB lists "Satrapal Guard Cavalry (Cilician) –
I would use the Persian Cavalry option for these. The "Satrapal Guard Cavalry" listing was dropped late in production and that listing on the OB was overlooked.

This truncated OB does a lot of combining. I feel (now) it does a bit of disservice to the Greek Cavalry- maybe they should be given higher stats as Memnon's Ionian Hellespontine elites?

2) The OB lists Persian/Mede cavalry, but the army list calls Medes Satrapal levy cavalry.

I would use the Persian Cavalry option for these.

3) Regarding Memnon: Some accounts I have found on line suggest he commanded left flank cavalry? Do you think he did this or did he stay with Greek Hoplites?

I would have Memnon be mounted on the left wing with the cavalry unit above. The fact that he survived the debacle seems to indicate he was not with the hoplites.

4) I found this: link
which is one of a couple of accounts I have found that suggest the battle wasn't a river crossing, but that Alexander crossed during night. Your thoughts?

I find a lot of common ground in the Peter Green version.
Most reconstructions of the Granicus- where the Persians can deploy freely make for a tougher game for the Macedonians.

The initial river crossing could have been against an advanced guard force. The rest of the battle is described by Diodorus and Arrian mostly the same. It seems more like a meeting engagement where the Persians are rushing to re align their front- that what is described in Arrian.

The Persian cavalry all rush towards Alexander, while he pins Memnon's cavalry with the Lancers. Then the Persian commanders are killed off and the cavalry run away.

The Persian levies and hoplites arrive out of breath in the rear only to be surrounded by the whole Macedonian army. The fact that nobody really mentions any action aside from Alexander's wing makes everything else speculation.

link