• Power: England
• Group: Northern openings
• When: Spring 1901
• Target SC: Norway
• Aggressive towards: Germany, Russia
• Orders: F Edi-NWG, F Lon-NTH, A Lpl-Yor

The Jorvik Opening is one of England’s two Northern openings. Like the Churchill Opening the usual aim is to capture Norway. However, whereas the Churchill Opening has England move their army to Edinburgh, with the Jorvik Opening it moves to Yorkshire.

As discussed in the post on the Churchill Opening, the Jorvik appears to be superior because you have flexibility over which fleet you can use to convoy the army to Norway, whereas with the Jorvik Opening you can only convoy the army through the North Sea. This leaves only one sensible option for F(NWG) – to move to the Barents Sea and thereby threaten St Petersburg.

However, the real flexibility is what your army can do for you from Yorkshire. From Yorkshire, the army can move to any of your home SCs, but the most important one – potentially – in 1901 is London.

Again, as I discussed in the post on the Churchill Opening, the Channel is left undefended and is ready for France to order F Bre-ENG, leaving the French fleet within one move of capturing London. With the Churchill Opening you’re left with using F NTH-Lon or F NTH C Edi-Lon to defend your capital; with the Jorvik Opening A Yor-Lon is possible and leaves your fleets free to do whatever they want.

If you think France is likely to move to the Channel, then, the Jorvik Opening is far superior. And, frankly, the difference between being able to use either fleet, or being restricted to using just F(NTH), to convoy your army to Norway (or anywhere else) is marginal. Besides, if you order A Lpl-Yor in S01, you’re leaving only one option to convoy it to Norway but this just happens to be the strongest one.

Capturing Norway

Here’s the worst-case scenario after Spring 1901. France is in the Channel meaning you’re faced with defending London or gambling that France really won’t move there. Germany has ordered F Kie-Den. Russia has ordered F Stp(sc)-GOB and A Mos-Stp. Russia is likely to order A Stp-Nwy in Fall 1901… which means that, if you want to guarantee taking Norway, you need to use both fleets. You have three options:

• F NWG-Nwy, F NTH S NWG-Nwy, A Yor-Lon
• F NTH-Nwy, F NWG S NTH-Nwy, A Yor-Lon
• F NTH C Yor-Nwy, F NWG S Yor-Nwy

Any of these orders succeed as long as France and Germany don’t get involved. But what happens if they do? What happens if France orders F ENG-NTH? Or if Germany orders F Den-NTH? Or, worst of all, what if France and Germany cooperate with either:

• F ENG-NTH, F Den S ENG-NTH, or
• F Den-NTH, F ENG S Den-NTH?

(1) If either France or Germany orders their fleet to the North Sea then any support F(NTH) offers for F NWG-Nwy is cut, and F NWG-Nwy bounces with A Stp-Nwy. England fails to take an SC.

(2) If France and Germany combine their forces, then F(NTH) is successfully dislodged. Again, F NTH S NWG-Nwy fails and F NWG-Nwy bounces. F NTH C Yor-Lpl also fails, regardless of the support from F(NWG), because F(NTH) is dislodged. England fails to take an SC.

(3) However, if France or Germany attack the North Sea, or even if they combine their forces to dislodge F(NTH), F NWG S NTH-Nwy succeeds (although the North Sea is lost). England captures Norway!

By the way, if you’ve used the Churchill Opening you’re still left with only one possible guaranteed move: F NWG S NTH-Nwy. A convoy through the Norwegian Sea will fail if F(NTH) is attacked, cutting support; a convoy through the North Sea will fail if the fleet is successfully dislodged by Franco-German cooperation. And then, what do you do with A(Edi)? At least, with the Jorvik Opening, you can always order A Yor-Lon if you want.

Of course, these scenarios are low-risk scenarios. Is France really likely to order F ENG-Nth? Likewise, is Germany likely to order F Den-NTH? And even less likely is cooperation to attack the North Sea! I can’t recall seeing any of these scenarios. (Given that Germany has a fair chance of capturing the North Sea and that this gives them a decent position against England, it’s surprising that I haven’t seen it happen!)

Churchill or Jorvik?

So, which is the best opening, the Churchill or the Jorvik?

For me, the Jorvik Opening is superior, for the reasons I’ve discussed above. The former’s advantage through flexibility of convoy is marginal, and even less so when you consider the possibilities of support for a convoy being cut. The best chance for a convoy is via the North Sea if you need both fleets to capture Norway.

If you need just one fleet to capture Norway, then you’ll be convoying, or moving from, the North Sea. This leaves the freedom for F NWG-BAR and that is true which of the two openings you use.

Again, if you choose F NWG-Nwy, you’re left with exactly the same options for the army and F(NTH) regardless of whether your army is in Edinburgh or Liverpool (discussed in the post on the Churchill Opening).

But, if you need to defend London, the Jorvik is far superior. You can order A Yor-Lon and your fleets, whatever they’re doing, are free to act. This, alone, should make the Jorvik Opening the opening of choice in most situations.

At least, for the Northern openings…

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POSTS IN THIS SERIES

• England’s Opening Moves – Introduction
• Churchill Opening
• Jorvik Opening
• Leith Opening
• Ouse Opening
• Severn Opening
• Grampian Opening
• Pennine Opening
• Snowdonia Opening
• Western Opening
• Yorkshire Pudding Opening