Post by The High Commissioner on Jan 5, 2020 10:03:32 GMT
Richard Sharp is well-known for naming various opening strategies for each power. You can find descriptions and, occasionally, comments about many openings in the Library of Diplomacy Openings(1).
England's opening moves are categorised by what her fleets do. They can be split into four groups: the northern openings, the southern openings, the Splits openings and the Western Opening (the latter being one on its own so I will look at it in more detail in a post called The Splits and the Western).
I don't have any problem with these categories but I don't necessarily like all the names applied to the opening moves themselves. There are some confusing aspects.
For instance, and chiefly, there are two openings for England that can be known as the Yorkshire Opening. Sharp gets around this by calling one the Northern Opening (the Library adds "Pure" in front of this). The other is known as the Yorkshire Opening or Southern Opening, Yorkshire variant.
You can see the problem, though - both openings can be known by the same name, because they are named after spaces on the board. I don't like this, so I've renamed some of the openings and I think it's worthwhile listing them below.
Northern openings
Southern openings
The Splits openings
I'll describe each of these openings in posts later on.
England's opening moves are categorised by what her fleets do. They can be split into four groups: the northern openings, the southern openings, the Splits openings and the Western Opening (the latter being one on its own so I will look at it in more detail in a post called The Splits and the Western).
- Northern openings involve the fleet in Edinburgh moving to the Norwegian Sea, and the fleet in London moving to the North Sea.
- Southern openings involve the fleet in Edinburgh moving to the North Sea, and the fleet in London moving to the English Channel.
- Splits openings involve the fleet in Edinburgh moving to the Norwegian Sea, and the fleet in London moving to the English Channel.
- The Western Opening involves the fleet in Edinburgh moving to Clyde; enough said.
I don't have any problem with these categories but I don't necessarily like all the names applied to the opening moves themselves. There are some confusing aspects.
For instance, and chiefly, there are two openings for England that can be known as the Yorkshire Opening. Sharp gets around this by calling one the Northern Opening (the Library adds "Pure" in front of this). The other is known as the Yorkshire Opening or Southern Opening, Yorkshire variant.
You can see the problem, though - both openings can be known by the same name, because they are named after spaces on the board. I don't like this, so I've renamed some of the openings and I think it's worthwhile listing them below.
Northern openings
- The Churchill Opening: F(Edi)-NWG, F(Lon)-NTH, A(Lpl)-Edi
- The Tyne Opening: F(Edi)-NWG, F(Lon)-NTH, A(Lpl)-Yor
Southern openings
- The Forth Opening: F(Edi)-NTH, F(Lon)-ENG, A(Lpl)-Edi
- The Humber Opening: F(Edi)-NTH, F(Lon)-ENG, A(Lpl)-Yor
- The Dyfi Opening: F(Edi)-NWG, F(Lon)-NTH, A(Lpl)-Wal
The Splits openings
- The Tweed Opening: F(Edi)-NWG, F(Lon)-ENG, A(Lpl)-Edi
- The Ouse Opening: F(Edi)-NWG, F(Lon)-ENG, A(Lpl)-Yor
- The Severn Opening: F(Edi)-NWG, F(Lon)-ENG, A(Lpl)-Wal
- The Western Opening: F(Edi)-Cly, F(Lon)-ENG, A(Lpl)-Wal
I'll describe each of these openings in posts later on.