Introduction by Congress of Vienna Assistant Designer & Editor, Fred Schachter: Game Designer Frank Esparrago continues his InsideGMT exposition of CoV Major Power Strategy pieces, the last presented through Part 2 of 2 of “Strategies for France”: How to Play with Each Major Congress of Vienna Game Power: France (2024 Edition) Part 2 of 2, Emphasis on War | Inside GMT blog. Attention is now given to Austria… whose Hapsburg players have challenges quite different from those in the role of the French emperor, Napoleon, as well as the two Allied Major Powers of Russian and Britain. Yes, different indeed!
Strategies for Austria
Austria starts the game in a very different situation from the other players. After a tumultuous relationship of war, peace, and reluctant alliance (Austria sent a not inconsiderable contingent of its army to participate in Napoleon’s 1812 invasion of Russia) she is at peace with France at the beginning of a Congress of Vienna game. Perhaps “neutrality” is a better phrase to use for Austria’s position.
Being disengaged from the war means military Issues have no interest to you as an early game Austrian player. Your army is practically demobilized. Austria must and can rebuild it, but without need to worry about battle losses like the game’s other three players.
Many Austrian units are waiting in their Force Pool to be brought onto CoV’s Military Map. As the Austrian player, your two armies have a long road of reconstitution ahead of them before they’re militarily ready to confront France as an active member of the Sixth Coalition.
For this reason, Austria only has one sound main way to win in this game: “Diplomacy First & Foremost” as her national advantage motto! However, the Austrian player has severe limitations on resources, generals, and manpower. An Austrian victory is achievable through three possible strategies: the first and paramount way to Austrian victory is to compel the surrender of Napoleon, which will assuredly require you joining the war as a full participant, or staying out of the war to end a game which “goes the distance” to its 10th turn in a better victory point position than the rest of the Allies and of course France (which is a far more difficult path to an Austrian win).
The preceding, for Austria more than any other Major Power, indicates the Austrian player should approach a game of Congress of Vienna as more than just a wargame. It takes a combination of skillful diplomatic negotiation and war for Austria to optimize its chances for success… as Metternich learned and encouraged, a single course is rarely the best path to victory. If you enjoy intense player interaction and a bit of needing to be an astute conniver… Oh boy! Is Austria [1] the Major Power for you!
The Austrian player must decide (among other considerations): 1. when to abandon neutrality and enter the war, 2. in which Minor Countries to place political influence, 3. who will be the Coalition Generalissimo (supreme military leader to contend against Napoleon), 4. how to best promote Absolutism in Europe, 5. where to send your relatively feeble Austrian Army units (when the time comes: between Italy, Germany, or both war theaters), 6. whether to seek the complete destruction of Napoleon or promote a Congress of Peace, and, finally, 7. how to treat the Russian colossus about to stride across Europe. Your decisions will be influenced, even more than with the game’s other Major Powers, on the idiosyncrasies (“the styles”) of the players around the gaming table.
I have played CoV many times as Austria, for my successes as Austria I collected many VPs (Victory Points) throughout a game through the systematic use of my statesmen character cards’ diplomatic skills, which I will endeavor to explain throughout this article. I have, however, observed how other players, more successful than I as Austria, followed their own winning strategy for this always fun-to-play nation. Consequently, this presentation will share what I have learned from them as well.
Nevertheless, playing Congress of Vienna as Austria requires a player whose gaming temperament prefers tactful negotiation and diplomacy, rather than one who likes blood, glory and a singular focus on military action. It is better that an Austrian player is not dragged into the war prematurely because during the Early War he is only a mere spectator (see Austria’s Early Game section below).
To best appreciate what this article conveys, kindly reference this InsideGMT overview of Austria’s statesmen and military cards, see: Meet the Statesmen of Congress of Vienna – The Austrian Contingent, 2024 Edition (Part 2 of 4) with CoV’s Bibliography as a Bonus | Inside GMT blog
The VP Mechanics of Congress of Vienna: How to Optimize Them for Austria?
CoV is something of a Eurogame. It is convenient to realize that diplomatic and political successes and failures are at least as important as military ones. These are synthesized in terms of the game’s VPs.
However, to get VPs you must have enough Resource markers to be able to “activate” Issues gained during the Diplomacy Phase. The problem is that Austria is an absolute pauper when it comes to Resource markers throughout the course of a game. It should carefully utilize its basic allocation and ever-so-valuable 3 Resource markers each turn for winning Issues that maximize Austrian VP gains.
Austria’s Early Game
The first and most obvious way for Austria to gain Early Game VPs is by remaining at peace! Yes, STAY AT PEACE! Other nations seem to best gain VPs through bloody and hard-fought major battles; but Austria simply conducts magnificent gala diplomatic receptions, receives ambassadors, dispatches observers to the battle fronts, hosts afternoons of glorious waltz (with music by Beethoven and Haydn), holds glamorous evening soirees, and issues reams upon reams of correspondence. If you miss the game’s military action right from the start; Austria may not be the Major Power that best suits your gamer temperament! Austria gets 2 VP each turn while at Peace. Therefore, a game’s first 4 or 5 turns earns a not inconsiderable 8-10 VP.
While Austria continues in Peace, the most efficient way to get VP is by winning the Diplomacy Phase through gaining the most Diplomacy Issues during its Rounds. Austria then spends corresponding Resource markers during the Government Phase to activate them, although Austria rarely has enough Resources to completely and consistently carry out this task!
The first and most obvious route to Austrian VP is the Absolutism Issue. It delivers increasing yields each time its green pawn is successfully advanced on its Track (see Figure 2) and where you may have the formidable assistance of Russian cards and especially their Leader Tsar Alexander. Furthermore, if you win the Diplomacy Phase you will get 2 VP. On many occasions you will have it easy achieving such a win since Austrian and Neutral cards both have a +1 bonus in debate for you. Those cards are a powerful means to bring Issues to your Diplomacy Table Track.
The second VP source is Minor Country Issues. These yield 1 VP per Issue and for Poland, as of turn one, an additional unit as well. With exception of Poland, these generally don’t provide an extra unit since you currently don’t hold the map space the Issue corresponds to (e.g., Bavaria). However, denying Minor Country military units to another Major Power, particularly France, may work to achieving your long-term interests. Austria must view its VP position as holistically as possible.
Finally, there’s Sound Government, which gives 1 VP in exchange for one Resource. Alas, the vexing matter is that sometimes you won’t have any leftover Resource due to Austria’s priorities and tight revenue sources. You must learn to live feeling Resource impoverished!
As you will have read in previous paragraphs, the key to implementing a victorious Austrian strategy is getting additional Resource markers. There are two ways to obtain them: first is to get a British Financial Aid Issue on Austria’s Track at the conclusion of a Diplomacy Phase. You have great cards to take at least one of Britain’s two Financial Aid markers. Remember that Austrian cards in debate have a +1! Just one last point, if no other Major Power places a “British Financial Aid” marker on the Diplomacy Table, you won’t be able to take it to your Track. So, don’t forget to place one in your selection of Issues sequence!
If Britain proves a difficult source for Resource markers; the second way to gain a Resource is through Stadion. This is an excellent 4-value Statesman character card. Furthermore, the Austrian player can receive an always needed additional Resource marker when this card is used for the seemingly perpetually required and vital British Financial Aid Issue! Don’t be fooled by this card’s low aristocratic title; usually Stadion is a best card play choice for you!
Austria’s Mid and Late Game Strategies
The Early Game ends once Austria goes to war against France by joining the Coalition (Allies) through activation of the Austria at War Issue. Thereafter, you should study the best way to get warfare-related VPs and now devote some of your Resources to military Issues (e.g., paying for Austrian Military Operations and Military Support markers). This means you’ll have even fewer Resources available than during the Early Game! Ouch! Now that you’re in the fray, try to get Austrian Generalissimo control. In addition to the Allied military advantages that the Generalissimo brings; he also gains Austria 1 VP each turn while under your control.
A crucial challenge to overcome is the powerful Russian Bear! You only need “invest” a Resource in initially getting the Generalissimo Issue for Austria. Thereafter, every turn you get 1 VP except when someone gains that Issue during a subsequent Diplomacy Phase… and your rival for that Issue may not be limited only to Russia. Beware!
If during the early game you have not managed to bring Absolutism‘s green pawn to the highest-scoring space for Austria: “Holy Alliance”, get it going now since it is for these last spaces when both Russia and Austria reap maximum VPs. (See Figure 2)
However, the Future Government of France Issue yields particularly high profits: 7 VP, if the Track’s blue pawn ends in the Austrian Regency space. Furthermore, it inflicts VP differential penalties upon the other players! (See Figure 4).
Your Leader Metternich‘s unique ability allows you to receive a nice reward of 1-3 VP (through a halved die roll) if Metternich organizes a Congress of Peace. This is accomplished by finishing a turn’s Government Phase with this Issue on your Austrian National Track and Resource activated.
This is especially attractive to Austria, and quite the historical motivation for an Austrian player eager to emulate clever Metternich’s machinations. Furthermore, the player who has the most VP (usually France during the Early through Mid Game) loses 1-3 VP and the player who won the Diplomacy Phase loses 1-3 VP: yes, if the VP leader also won the Diplomacy Phase, that could result in a 6VP penalty! This is indeed a sweet result when that’s a rival player!
Normally a Congress of Peace success will result in Austria making notable progress towards winning the game; for you’ve improved your VP position while penalizing one or two opponents.
From a military perspective, there are military map spaces that grant Austrian VP for your Army of Bohemia’s advance to Paris. These drastically decrease French VP as those spaces are lost by France and there are also the VP to be won through Major Battle victories (usually +1VP, but +2VP each if won against the Grande Armée under Napoleon’s command). A Major Battle requires at least four units on each side. You must prioritize conquering those spaces. Austria’s armies only have access to Track A and Track F (See Figure 5).
The most VP you may get are for Central Europe Front A; but those VP will be shared with your Russian ally-rival. However, for Italy’s Front E only you receive them. Furthermore, it’s certainly nice to ‘snarf up’ Naples’ 2VP by capturing the Italy space before Britain grabs Naples through an amphibious invasion from Sicily.
As Austria, the aforementioned goals pursued depends not only on Resources; but what you can determine from the actions/motivations of a game’s other players. You’ll need to keep an eye on which cards they play during the Initial Phase and Diplomacy Phase. Trawl for good Austrian cards via trading. Usually, players should be eager to trade cards with you; for initially you’re neutral and nobody should perceive you as a military threat. Accepting trades could enormously improve your hand’s quality … but be careful not to overly help France by providing it a powerful card through the French Player’s “Persuasion by Force” National Advantage.
You’ll need to be aware of your cards’ bonuses, e.g., if you have Talleyrand and Friedrich of Saxony, make sure to put the Italy and/or Saxony Minor Country Issues out for Diplomacy Phase play as you’ll almost certainly be able to win one or both. Use the Austrian advantage in debate (+1) ad infinitum! It may be better to Pass after debating or trading cards during your Round as well as debating Issues to your interest. What course to take is situational.
The Austrian Great Strategies
The first obvious strategy for any Austrian player is to get to the end of the 10th game turn (or previously obtain the Surrender of Napoleon) with the most Victory Points and thereby gain Austrian victory.
Your Army of Bohemia must get to the space of Paris, eliminate France as a rival, and get the 5 VP for placing an Army in that space. Getting into Paris through the Alps is, due to the distance involved, usually a utopian dream; and besides, your little Army of Tyrol, even if at its full 6-unit strength, is usually no match for Napoleon and his Grande Armée in Paris unless the Grande Armée is very weak indeed.
Your entry into Paris must therefore be with your main Army of Bohemia alongside the mighty Russian-Prussian Army of Silesia. Those two Armies can have a maximum of 26 units between them versus a full-strength Grande Armée‘s 16… not that it’s likely for the presumably heavily attritioned French to have that much strength at this point of a Congress of Vienna end game. Even were those three Armies at full strength; the numerical troop balance of a Paris battle should clearly be with the Allies!
The figure on the right depicts an optimal Allied concentric attack on Paris. The Army of Tyrol is the fourth and final Army to attack and is usually the weakest. However, before the Army of Tyrol may attack Paris, Napoleon and the Grande Armée will likely have already surrendered to another Allied Army: although that won’t prevent the Army of Tyrol executing its Military Operation and entering the Paris space for its own 5VP.
It’s best to have Paris fall to the powerful Front A combination of your Army of Bohemia and the Russian Army of Silesia! Only when Front B’s Northern Army and Front C’s British Army of Portugal have delayed their advances into France would you have any chance of realizing Paris first and assist finishing off Napoleon with the Army of Tyrol!
Front A spaces are shared by Russia and Austria. You must therefore beware favorable to the Tsar VP differential gains. Front F offers Austria a comparably lesser VP harvest.
Both figures show the maximum size of Allied units within each Army (squares) along with the order of resolution of battles on each Front (attack arrows). France’s Armies should be shells of their former selves by the time of these End Game attacks… particularly the Grande Armée.
Second: you must obtain the maximum number of map VP spaces. (See Figure 5). However, you will normally get less than your two Allied rivals. In other words, your control of military map spaces is a necessary part of Austrian strategy but insufficient in of itself to win the game.
Third: advancing the Absolutism pawn to the Track’s “Absolutism / Holy Alliance” space. By doing this you should be able to distance yourself from Britain’s VPs, but Russia will likely still be ahead of you.
Finally, you’ll have to maximize VP through being the frequent Diplomacy Phase Winner, as well as getting VP for Generalissimo, Metternich’s Congress of Peace bonus, Minor Countries, and the 2VP Austria at Peace bonus for optimal turn after turn rewards. Of course, another and key aspect of this is not to suffer too many battlefield defeats at the hands of a Central European Front A Napoleon and/or whomever France opposes you with on Italian Front F!
Facets of Any Austrian Strategy
“The Armistice” and “Austria at War” Issues from Austria’s Perspective: Let’s consider ideas regarding the Armistice Issue. Normally, France should seek delaying its implementation and Russia and Britain will strive to accelerate your entry into War because, after Armistice, the Austria at War Issue can be won and activated. This means France will then have to face the Russian Army of Silesia joined by Austria’s Army of Bohemia to potentially make things rather difficult for France in Central Europe.
But under usual circumstances Austria must delay its entry into war until it has built sufficient Austrian units to “flesh out” its armies. This usually happens by the 4th game turn if you’ve repeatedly won the Austrian Recruitment Issue. In addition, you’ll have 8 accumulated VP for four turns of being at Peace; a good total to help achieve a viable competitive position against your soon to be Allied rivals. You should only enter the War earlier if you believe Russia is about to be utterly destroyed by Napoleon and his Grande Armée.
For before Armistice, a particularly aggressive French player, who receives powerful military cards and quickly builds units for France’s Central and Northern European armies, could seek defeating Russia to achieve an Early Triumph Victory of 80 or more VP for a game-ending win. Russia is initially alone on Fronts A & B pending you joining the Allies. If that threat occurs, adjust your strategy accordingly.
However, don’t take too long going to war as overly delaying that can make Paris an objective too far: to determine that, count the number of spaces between each Allied Army and Paris to calculate how many turns each would take to reach Paris, presuming a Coalition battlefield victory each turn (which is a BIG presumption!). In this instance an Austrian war entry delay could be ensuring French victory! For example, Russia’s Front B Northern Army, starting Turn 1 in East Prussia, would take at least five of a Campaign Game’s ten turns to reach Paris… now THAT’s a pressure situation which Austria can critical indirectly intervene with by assisting with Coalition capture of Saxony. Seizing Saxony allows the Russians to attack Hanover! As with so much in life… “timing is everything”!
Collaborate with Russia as an Equal: Do not be its Subordinate and there’s nothing better than for Austria to Get and Maintain the Position of Generalissimo: When Austria enters the War, normally its armies are already almost completely constituted. That will likely not be so for Russian armies who have suffered many losses in battles against the French in Northern and Central Europe. Your Army of Bohemia is momentarily relatively powerful. Therefore, during a Diplomacy Phase, you must forcefully argue that the Coalition’s Generalissimo must be Austrian! Remember, those Generalissimo VP are vital to your interests. In fact, you’re following the same strategy as your historical Austrian counterparts did!
Although Central Europe Front A must be your main battlefront as it’s a dramatic and direct approach to Paris; don’t neglect Italian Front F. You have VP and one more card for your hand each turn awaiting you there! When you receive Bellegarde’s military card, do not hesitate to use it in Italy along with any other military card(s) which can be spared! Just another warning; advancing through Front F’s Alps and Lyon spaces to Paris is a long and arduous path: for they’re both defensively powerful mountain/French Homeland spaces. Don’t waste effort unless you see the French player has left you an opening too good to ignore! More on Front F later.
Remember that Russian cards in your hand with the symbol G on their right corner can be used by Austria in Front A battles if the Generalissimo is active. There are times it’s much better using the skills of your military commanders for diplomatic Issues that concern Austria as they’re usually mediocre generals. Preserve for the War Phase your possibly received good Russian and Prussian military cards for the titanic Central Europe battles… use them for Austria’s benefit!
Exploit Austria’s Advantage in Diplomacy Phase Debating: I have explained this before but want to make it abundantly clear (so please be forgiving of my being repetitive) that Austria’s advantage is her very fine diplomatic cards. These have good modifiers for the main Issues you’re interested in. Furthermore, if these cards are used for debating each card gets a +1 additional modifier.
This results in no player being certain of winning any Issue marker to their interests, even if moved to the farthest reaches of their National Track. Many Austrian cards have a final value of +7 or +6 for debating specific Issues! Remember this advantage: you can move Issues with non-Austrian cards and always debate with Austrian or Neutral cards to obtain that +1 bonus!
Trade Cards to Improve your Austrian Hand’s Quality: I know many players who never use CoV’s trading card mechanism. It’s a respectable decision; but if you are Austria, try not to ignore this aspect of the game. Should you get an Austrian card in trade, you have just been given a terrible “weapon” to potentially debate with and keep Issues on your Track. No one can contra debate an Issue (that is, a player can’t debate a debate!). You can always debate the Issue negotiation move of an opposing player with one of your excellent national or neutral cards (with their +1 bonus!)
More Regarding Central European Front A and the Need for Austrian & Russian Cooperation – The problem you have with Imperial France is the quality and quantity of their military leaders available to oppose you. Luckily, they can’t always be available everywhere.
Your main Front A migraine is obvious; it’s called Napoleon and his Grande Armée. The best weapons against this formidable adversary are Russian and Prussian generals and the masses of military units you and your Ally can assemble between the Armies of Bohemia and Silesia. Usually, you and your Russian player partner can reach a 3:2 ratio in the Coalition’s favor.
The Generalissimo HQ marker with its +3 battle DRM, along with two +3 Military Support markers from you and Russia, provide a cumulative +9 battle DRM before including your respective military cards! This can result in duplicating the Allied Battle of Leipzig triumph with its subsequent advance upon Paris.
Don’t despair if France wins an occasional battle victory, as it did historically, for each will come at the cost of eliminated French units. Austria and Russia (as well as Britain in its own way) should share the goal of attritioning France’s armies to the point their unit losses can’t be fully replaced. Grind down the forces of Napoleon and his evil minions!
The Italian Front F: A Potential Austrian Conundrum – Now back to Italian Front F. It is usually “asleep” for much of a game; but you know Austria has VP and one card to gain there (and besides those VPs, save Naples, which could be amphibiously seized by Britain, are just for you!). With Bellegarde and companions such as Von Klenau or Gyulay and some other Austrian and Neutral battle cards; those could be more than enough to achieve an Italian Front F victory.
However, France’s Eugene card’s +4 DRM can be devastating against you, although you can somewhat compensate for this with Bellegarde’s card in your hand! An even a worse nightmare can occur when France also assigns the Murat card (if Diplomacy Phased saved) for the Italian Front to provide another +3 DRM for the French. This can occur when France is not sufficiently pressed on other Fronts. On some occasions, I‘ve seen the Austrian Army of Tyrol absolutely destroyed through these circumstances. Now don’t despair about Front F success… just be wary of its negative possibilities.
The War of 1812 Box & Its Peace of Ghent/Canada Annexed Possible Outcomes: Undoubtedly the North American War of 1812 does not directly involve Austria. However, it can affect Austria very negatively if Britain or France obtains so many VP from that Front G Box to sway the game to their favor. Of course, it can be terrible for you if one of these players gets the Issue of Peace of Ghent (for British victory) or Canada Annexed (representing victory for France). Either provides a 3 VP award each turn which could obliterate Austria’s chances for victory!
You will surely have the unconditional support of Russia to sabotage these attempts to gain North American VP. But be proactive: if France is winning in America, trade the Sherbrooke and/or Tecumseh cards to the British player should you have one or both of them in hand. Those cards, when used in battle, can take the wind out the French player (and indirectly their American cockerels).
Conversely, if Britain is destroying the American position (and gaining too many VPs via this theater of war) there’s nothing fancier than trading the Andrew Jackson card to France to help that player foil the hated “Red Coats”. Why not repeat The Battle of New Orleans British defeat multiple times to help achieve Austria’s Congress of Vienna victory?
A Final Viennese Touch…
As you can note, it is not an easy task to attain victory with Austria… but it is certainly possible with astute and careful play. You don’t have to do everything perfectly, just be a little better than the rest of your game’s players!
Austria has excellent cards for diplomacy and your Metternich Leader can aid you a lot as previously explained. You should also seek to “receive” British foreign aid money to finance your goals. You will also have the power of Russian and Prussian Armies to defeat Napoleon on the battlefield. What more, then, do you want to help achieve a glorious Austrian game victory?
Concluding Remarks by Congress of Vienna Assistant Designer & Editor, Fred Schachter: Hopefully, readers have found Frank’s advice enlightening and enjoyable to consider.
The observation concerning Austria’s economic fragility cannot be over-stressed. As this article cited, at some point during a Congress of Vienna game, Austria must switch, at least for certain turns, to a fully wartime footing with its base allowance of but three Resources. Presuming it has the Generalissimo and can persuade Russia to select both its Military Operation Issues to attack Northern Europe Front B and the crucial Central Europe Front A, that allows Austria to acquire one of its Military Operation markers to attack Italian Front F and acquire two Military Support markers… one for Track A and the second for Track F. Oops! That accounts for all three of Austria’s Resources for the turn!
Therefore, Frank is correct, obtaining at least one British Financial Aid Issue can give the Austrian player a much-needed Resource “breathing room” as would acquiring Stadion through trade or winning the Initial Phase’s wager: for Stadion, if Diplomacy Phase played for any of the card’s three cited Issues, provides Austria an additional Resource.
So, if you’re looking for a gaming experience where your wits, powers of gaming table talk persuasion and being adroit in determining priorities in a seeming seething labyrinth of choices… well, playing Congress of Vienna as Austria is for you!
Next up will be Frank’s latest advice for prospective CoV players of Russia. Long live the Tsar, eh?
Footnotes
[1] “Bella gerant alii, tu felix Austria nube” (let others wage war, thou, happy Austria, marry) a rather eloquent quote regarding a house of Habsburg’s often taken diplomatic approach.
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