• Power: England
• Group: Southern openings
• When: Spring 1901
• Target SCs: Norway, Brest, Belgium
• Aggressive towards: France
• Orders: F Edi-NTH, F Lon-ENG, A Lpl-Wal

This Southern opening is named after the River Severn, which rises in Wales (it flows into England and meets the sea at the Bristol Channel). Here, A Lpl-Wal is the order in Spring 1901. And look at that: you’re in the Channel with an army ready to be convoyed to France!

The Severn Opening is the one to go for if you’re seriously attacking France. Unfortunately, France knows this. You can argue, of course, that, actually, A(Wal) is going to be convoyed to Belgium, or that it’s there to defend Liverpool or London should France prove less trustworthy than they are telling you (always good to turn suspicions on their head!). But France is not likely to be moronic enough to believe this or, ironically, they could well be moronic enough to not see that you were able to do anything other than attack them! Some players lack vision.

Brest is Best

Fall 1901 has been adjudicated and here’s the situation. Let’s go over what’s happened so far.

In Spring 1901 England used the Severn Opening. France ordered F Bre-MAO, A Mar S Par-Bur; Germany ordered F Kie-Den, A Ber-Kie, A Mun-Ruh. In Fall 1901, England’s orders were F ENG C Wal-Bre, F NTH-Bel. Germany ordered A Ruh S NTH-Bel (it meant there was no chance of England moving to Holland, after all), A Kie-Hol, F Den-Swe (bouncing with Russia’s F GOB-Swe). France ordered F MAO-Por, A Mar-Spa, A Bur S Wal-Bel.

England captured Belgium with their fleet because Germany supported the move. France believed England, so they left Brest undefended in favour of supporting A Wal-Bel… the result wasn’t what they’d hoped for. Well, perhaps dreamed of would be a better phrase: they simply wanted to believe England wouldn’t do the dirty.

We clearly have an Anglo-German alliance against France. France has very little choice here: they almost have to build A(Par). Germany, with two builds, are likely to build A(Mun) and either an army or a fleet in Berlin; anything else – eg F(Kie) – will send an alarming signal to England.

England’s build? Well, you’ve got choices. One should be F(Lpl): if you’re going after France, go after them! An army in London would be good – it would be nice to convoy to Picardy! But maybe you’re also looking to get Norway? In that case F(Lon) or F(Edi) – and you could do with securing the North Sea anyway.

This isn’t something that works so well often. France has to be… let’s say credulous and be kind. Or drunk; that works, too. Or a novice, a new born Diplopup. Having said that, approaching France with; “Support me to Belgium and I’ll be able to work with you against Germany – you’ll be in Munich before you know it!” is a better deal for France than you getting into Brest so, if they want to grow and run the risk, then why not? After all, having used both armies to force your way into Burgundy, there’s nothing else you can do but take Portugal and Spain and hope for the Brest.

England is very much in the stronger position now. If you do build A(Lon) and F(Lpl), and order F ENG C Lon-Pic and F Lpl-IRI, France isn’t getting Brest back any time soon. In the meantime, Germany can focus on attacking Burgundy. If you can succeed with this then you’re very likely to have taken Brest, Spain and Portugal very quickly indeed.

That’s a big ‘if’, though. If France lets you into the Channel. If France forces their way into Burgundy and occupies the space using A(Par). If France doesn’t cover Brest with F(MAO), take Spain with A Mar-Spa, and build F(Bre) or A(Par).

Pic Me!

Here’s the alternative, less favoured but often as useful.

In Spring 1901, England used the Severn Opening. France ordered as above, except for A Mar-Gas, being a little dubious about England’s motives. Germany opened exactly the same.

In Fall 1901, France ordered F MAO-Por, A Bur-Mun and A Gas-Bre. Germany, having decided that defending Munich was better than helping England into Belgium (they’d apologise later) went with F Den-Swe (bounced again), A Kie-Hol and A Ruh-Mun… bouncing with A Bur-Mun and protecting the space. England still ordered F NTH-Bel – if nothing else, it would prevent France taking Belgium – but this time decided on F ENG C Wal-Pic.

This is a high risk strategy. If England had failed to take Belgium, they would have been left with no SCs… and both France or Germany could have ordered units there. Perhaps Russia had ordered A Mos-Stp so England didn’t think they were getting Norway anyway; perhaps allowing Russia to take Norway might give England options over who they allied with in 1902.

Anyway, whatever the reasoning, England decided to land their army in Picardy rather than Brest. Why do this?

England couldn’t have taken Brest, so where else is the army going to go? It could have gone to Belgium, of course, and that would have freed F(NTH) to move to Norway. But this is England attacking France; getting a fleet into Norway wasn’t the priority.

In “The Game of Diplomacy” Richard Sharp says: “It goes without saying that if France is foolish enough to let you into the Channel, he is almost sure to defend Brest; Picardy will catch him out most of the time.“¹

I have to say I’m not sure I like the above scenario. For me, rather than taking Belgium, F NTH-Nwy is probably the better choice. Picardy should be the third choice. If France can’t cover Brest with an army, the chances are you’ll be able to get into Brest. If France can cover Brest with an army, the chances are they will. Belgium should be your first choice, especially if you can gain German support. If you don’t believe taking Belgium is a win – if France has moved A Par-Pic Belgium is worth handing to France – then convoy to Picardy.

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[1] “The Game of Diplomacy” Ch 4 “England”. Sharp, R. Arthur Barker, 25 Jan 1979. Accessed from https://diplomacyzines.co.uk/home/contents/the-game-of-diplomacy/4-england/ 7 July 2024.

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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