Introduction by Congress of Vienna (CoV)’s Editor, Fred Schachter – To familiarize the InsideGMT audience of what designer Frank Esparrago accomplished with his fun and exciting Congress of Vienna game, now a GMT P-500 offering which has “Made the Cut” (thank you patrons, thank you so very much!) please reference previous InsideGMT articles covering a wide range of CoV topics. These contain background which will help you better appreciate this article. Use the following link to access this material: https://www.gmtgames.com/p-850-congress-of-vienna.aspx .

The CoV play test team, now mostly using VASSAL due to being geographically disparate, have enjoyed many exciting Congress of Vienna games. The team has held interesting debates considering how to best play each of Congress of Vienna’s fourMajor Powers: France, Russia/Prussia, Britain, and Austria. This article reflects their most recent musings regarding AUSTRIA as described by game designer Frank Esparrago. This seems a fitting follow-up to the prior article concerning France’s options. 

The game rules this article alludes to will unfortunately need to remain implicit: a restriction an article format such as this compels which readers shall hopefully understand. That said, take it away Frank!

Note: If you would like to view any of the below images in a larger size, you can click on the image and it will point you to the full image file.

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Austria starts in play in a very different situation from other players. She is at peace with France and the Allies.  Perhaps “neutrality” is a better phrase to use for Austria’s position. Being disengaged from the war means military Issues and Military Support markers have no interest to the Austrian player during the early game. Furthermore, his army is practically demobilized. Austria must and can recreate it, but without needing to worry about battle losses like the other three players.

In fact, the game’s set-up provides only three military units in the Army of Bohemia, Central Europe Front, track A, and none whatsoever in the nascent Tyrol-starting Army for the Italian Front, track E. The rest of Austria’s military units are waiting in their Force Pool to be built. As the Austrian player, your Hapsburg armies have a long road of reconstitution ahead of them before they’re militarily is ready to confront France.

Austria has been repeatedly defeated by Imperial France and weakened by treaty. It is not on a firm military footing when the game commences. For this reason, Austria only has one sound main way to win in Congress of Vienna: 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 is to be victorious in a successful Peace Congress that usually occurs during the last turns of play. Another way to Austrian victory is to force the surrender of Napoleon, which will assuredly require your joining the war as a full participant, or ending the 10th turn in a better victory point position than the rest of the Allies and of course France.

The preceding, for Austria more than any other Major Power, indicates the Austrian player should approach Congress of Vienna as more than just a wargame. It will take a combination of 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 game victory. If you enjoy intense player interaction and a bit of needing to be a conniver… Oh boy! Is Austria the Major Power for you!

The Austrian player must decide (among other considerations) when to abandon neutrality and enter the war, in which Minor Countries to place political influence, who will be the Coalition Generalissimo (supreme military leader to contend against Napoleon), how to best promote Absolutism in Europe, where to send your relatively feeble Austrian Armies (when the time comes: between Italy, Germany, or both theaters), whether to seek the complete destruction of Napoleon or to promote a Congress of Peace, and, finally, how to treat the Russian colossus about to stride across Europe. Your decisions will be influenced, even more than with the game’s other Powers, on the idiosyncrasies (“the styles”) of the players.

I have played CoV many times as Austria, and I have to admit that I have won a few contests with it. That said, I had few dramatic confrontations directly with France as usually happens with Russia (who also represents Prussia), nor have I suffered a bitter, tough fought war in America and Spain like Britain must endure! For my successes as Austria I collected many VPs throughout the game through the systematic use of my Statesmen 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, have followed a winning strategy for this always fun-to-play nation. Consequently, this exposition will share what I have learned from them as well.

The VP Mechanics of Congress of Vienna: How to Optimize Them for Austria?

Congress of Vienna is something of a Eurogame. It is convenient to realize that in CoV, diplomatic and political successes and failures are at least as important as military ones, and they are synthesized in terms of Victory Points (VPs). We already mentioned them in a previous InsideGMT article: “STRATEGIES FOR FRANCE IN CONGRESS OF VIENNA”. We are now going to focus on Austria’s VP situation… although certain principles apply to both these Major Powers.

For each great game-winning strategy, it is necessary to understand how VPs can be lost or won. However, in CoV, to get VP you must have enough Resource Markers to be able to “activate” Issues gained during a turn’s Diplomacy Rounds. The problem is Austria being an absolute pauper when it comes to Resource Markers throughout the game. It should use its basic allocation and ever-so-valuable 3 Resource Markers each turn for winning Issues that maximize Austrian VP gains. Keep in mind that only for battles won and the Absolutism Issue are Resource Markers not required.

Austria’s Early Game

The first and most obvious way for Austria to gain VPs is by remaining at peace! Yes, STAY AT PEACE! Other nations seem to best gain VPs through glorious, bloody and hard-fought major battles; but Austria simply conducts, gala diplomatic receptions, receives ambassadors, dispatches observers to the battle fronts, holds afternoons of glorious waltz, music by Beethoven and Haydn, glamorous soirees, and reams of correspondence. If you miss the game’s military action; Austria may not be the Major Power that best suits your gamer personality! Austria gets 2 VP each turn while at Peace. Therefore, CoV’s first 4 or 5 turns will get you 8-10 VP: similar to those reaped by Russia when that player entirely controls Prussia.

While Austria continues in Peace, the most efficient way to get VP is by winning the Diplomacy Phase through winning Diplomacy Issues during its Rounds. Austria then spends corresponding Resource Markers during the Government Phase; although Austria does not have enough Resources to completely carry out this task!

The most obvious route to Austrian VP is the Absolutism Issue, which has increasing yields each time its green pawn is successfully advanced on its track (see Figure 1) and where you will have the formidable help of Russian Statesmen 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 have +1 in debate for you. Those cards are a powerful means to bring Issues to your track.

The second VP source is to gain them through the Diplomacy Phase by focusing on gaining Minor Country Issues, as they yield 1 VP per Issue. These generally don’t provide you with their extra military unit since you currently don’t hold the territory the Issue corresponds to (e.g. Bavaria during turn one). However, denying those extra 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 also Sound Government, which gives 1 VP in exchange for one Resource. Alas, the vexing matter is that sometimes you won’t have any leftover Resources due to your populace and other revenue sources being impoverished! (See Figure 2).

As you will have seen in the previous paragraphs, the key to implementing a victorious strategy for Austria is to get additional Resource Markers. There are two ways to get them; the first is to get the British Financial Aid Issue to end on the Austrian track; you have great cards to take it; remember that the Austrian cards in debate have +1! Just one last accuracy, if no one places the “British Financial Aid” marker on the diplomatic board, you won’t be able to take it to your track; so don’t forget to place it in your selection of issues sequence!

If Britain proves a difficult source for Resource Markers; the second way to gain a Resource is through the Stadion card(see Figure 3), this is an excellent 4-value 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 their aristocratic titles; there are other cards which can usually help Austria achieve its goals such as Kaiser Franz I (and its 5-value) or famous Prince Schwarzenberg.

Austria’s Medium and Late Game Strategies

The Early Game ends once Austria goes to war against France by joining the Coalition. Thereupon, you should study the best way to get warfare-related VPs and also 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 he’s under your control. Perhaps the decisive challenge to overcome is the Russian bear! You only have to “invest” resources in getting the Generalissimo Issue the first time and 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 to only 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 receive more VPs. Another important consideration are Minor Country Issues, but you don’t usually have leftover Resource Markers to activate the Minor Countries you may win during Diplomacy; so don’t waste cards in trying to get them!

However, the Future Government of France Issue yields very high profits, 3 VP, if the black pawn ends in the King Napoleon Bonaparte space or 3 VP more in the Regency King Louis Napoleon space; and inflict VP differential penalties upon the other players! (see Figure 4)  

Your Leader Metternich‘s unique ability allows you to receive a nice reward of 3 VP if Metternich organizes a Congress of Peace (which includes finishing the turn’s Government Phase with this Issue on your Austrian National Track)! This is especially attractive to Austria, and with quite the historical motivation for you to emulate clever Metternich’s motivations. Furthermore, the player who has the most VP (usually France) loses 3 VP and the player who won the Diplomacy Round loses 3 VP (yes, if the VP leader also won the Diplomacy Round, that’s a -6VP penalty)! Sweet, eh?

Normally this success will result in Austria making notable progress towards winning the game; for you’ve improved your VP position while penalizing one or two rivals. Just make certain there is no high chance that another player will win the game if the Congress of Peace is successful and ends the contest (i.e. the distance between the 1st and 2nd qualifiers is greater than 20 VP before the die roll).

There are military track spaces that grant VP on your way to Paris. These drastically decrease French VP as those spaces are lost by France. You must prioritize conquering spaces. Austria only has access to track A and track E. Most VP you will get are on the Central Europe Front A; but those VP will also be shared with your Russian ally-rival. However, for the Front E of Italy only you’ll receive them. Furthermore, it’s certainly nice to ‘snarf up’ Naples’ 2VP by capturing the Italy space if Britain does not grab Naples first with an amphibious invasion from Sicily.  See Figure 5 for a related illustration of the CoV map.

As Austria, you can say which of the aforementioned goals you pursue again depends on Resources; but also what you can read from the actions/motivations of the other players. You’ll need to keep an eye on which cards they play during the Initial Phase, and trawl for good Austrian cards. Normally, all players will be eager to trade cards with you; for initially you’re neutral and nobody should perceive you as a threat.  Accepting trades should improve your hand enormously.

You’ll need to be aware of the bonuses on your own cards, e.g. if you have Talleyrand and Friederich of Saxony, make sure to put the Italy and Saxony Minor Country Issues out into Diplomacy Phase play as you’ll almost certainly be able to win them both. Use the Austrian advantage in debate (+1) ad infinitum! It is better to pass or trade cards during your turn and debating Issues that are to your interest (as long as you have Resources to activate them during the Government Phase).

The Austrian Great Strategies

The first obvious strategy for any Austrian player who wants to emulate Metternich is to get an Austrian victory after a Congress of Peace. He nearly achieved that historically in February 1814 and later during the Congress of Vienna that began at the end of the summer of 1814.

Let’s expand upon the previously described Austrian Congress of Peace goal. Not only is having the Metternich Leader card helpful; but when the Congress is called Austria must have more VP than any player although not exceeding 15 VP over the player in second place. This type of victory is difficult for you to achieve since Austria has to have outperformed the rest of the players, and if this were the case, the other players would normally sabotage a calling for a Congress of Peace that will end the game and defeat them all!

The other possible Austrian Great Strategy is to get to the end of the 10th game turn (or obtain the Surrender of Napoleon during some previous turn) with more VP than any of the other of players and thereby get an Austrian victory. But remember “If Napoleon has not surrendered and the French player is not in last place in four player game’s VP scoring; the French player is the winner”. Yup, Napoleon’s mere survival under this circumstance is Austria’s defeat!

First: to avoid this possibility, you must get to the space of Paris, eliminate France as a rival, and also 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 military unit strength, is no match for Napoleon and a full strength  Grande Armée. Your entry into Paris must therefore be with your main Army of Bohemia alongside the mighty Russian-Prussian Army of Silesia. Those two Coalition Armies could have a maximum of 26 military units between them versus a full strength Grande Armée‘s16… not that it is likely, at this point of a game, those three Armies will be at full strength; but the numerical troop balance of a Paris battle should clearly be with the Allies!

Second: you must have obtained the maximum number of VP spaces. However, you will normally get less than your two Coalition rivals (see Figure 5). This particularly pertains to Russia who will have 10 or more VPs than you for controlled spaces. Britain gains 5 VP for spaces in Europe, 8 more if it controls Naples and Holland and quite a few more for success in the War of 1812 Box and Pax Britannica Track. In other words, your control of spaces is a necessary part of Austrian strategy but insufficient in of itself to win the game. Austria must get other sources of VPs.

Third: having advanced the Absolutism green pawn to the “Absolutism / Holy Alliance” space you will surely have been able to distance yourself from Great Britain’s VP, but Russia will likely still be beating you.

Finally, you will have to maximize game VP for being the Diplomacy Phase Winner, Generalissimo, Metternich’s Congress of Peace organization, Minor Countries, Austria and Peace as well as for Sound Government. Of course, another and key aspect of this is not to suffer too many military defeats at the hands of Napoleon!  

Facets of Any Austrian Strategy

“The Armistice” and “Austria at War” Issues from a Austrian Perspective: Let’s consider some ideas regarding the Armistice Issue. Normally, France must delay its implementation and Russia and Britain will strive to accelerate your entry into War because, after the Armistice, the Austria at War Issue can take place and then France will have to face the Russian Army of Silesia joined by Austrian Army of Bohemia to potentially make things difficult indeed for France in Central Europe.

Furthermore, Austria can do a lot of damage to France in Italy, especially if the French player neglects to strengthen this Front, something quite common during CoV play test games to date.

Austria must delay its entry into War until she has built sufficient Austrian military units to effectively help Russia against France. This usually happens by the 4th game turn if you have repeatedly won the Austrian Recruitment Issue. In addition, you’ll have 8 accumulated VP for being at Peace four turns; a good total to help achieve a viable competitive position against the Russian player. You should only enter War on an earlier turn if you believe Russia is about to be utterly destroyed by Napoleon and his Grande Armée.

Don’t take too long to go to War, as it can make Paris an objective too far. In this instance you will surely be ensuring a French victory! As with so much in life… “timing is everything”!

Collaborate with Russia as an Equal: Do not be the Subordinate and There’s Nothing better than for Austria to Get and Maintain the Position of Generalíssimo: When Austria enters into the War, normally its army is already 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 very powerful (relatively), and so you must forcefully argue, during Diplomacy Phase Issue “fighting”, 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 the Central Europe Front (A) must be your main battlefront; don’t forget the Italian Front (E). You have VP and one more card awaiting you there! When you receive Bellegarde’s card, do not hesitate, use it in Italy! That should temporarily be your Main Front. Should you manage to reach the space of Italy, you will have achieved your goals (only two won battles separate you from it). Just another warning; advancing through the Alps to Paris is a long and difficult road. Don’t waste any effort in this way unless you see the French player has left you an opening too good to ignore!

Remember that Russian cards with the symbol G on their top right corner can be used by Austria in battles if the Generalissimo is active. For example, if you receive the Blücher card in the deal cards sequence; it is better saving it in your hand and trading it to Russia. That player may decide to use it in the Northern Europe Front (an exclusively Russian affair) and not where you are most interested; the Austrian-crucial Central Europe Front, where many VPs and an additional card await and those could be decisive for you! (See Figure 6).

A word of advice regarding this: it’s much better using the skills of your military commanders in diplomatic Issues that concern Austria since they are usually mediocre generals; saving your possibly received good Russian and Prussian general cards for Austria’s titanic Central Europe battles. This approach better harnesses the combative capacity of the Russian and Prussian Battle Cards… use them at your service for Austria’s benefit!

And at the end… a small jug of cold water dashed upon you. If the Coalition doesn’t have a Generalissimo, Austria receives a -3 DRM and you won’t be able to use the other Allied player’s G-coded Battle Cards!

Exploiting the Austrian Advantage in Diplomacy Phase Card Debating: I have explained this before, but I want to make it clear (so please be forgiving)! Austria’s advantage is her very fine diplomatic cards. These have good modifiers for the main Issues you’re interested in. If you use these cards for debating you’ll have a +1 additional modifier. No player can be certain of any Issue to their interests, even if it has been moved it to the farthest reaches of their National Track. However, many Austrian cards have +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!

Trading Cards to Improve your Austrian Hand: 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; and you can always debate the move of an opposing player with your excellent national and neutral cards (and it’s a +1 extra!)

French Main Battle Card Commanders and French Military Advantages: The problem you have with Imperial France is the quality and quantity of their military leaders available to oppose you. Luckily, they can’t be everywhere and available at all times.

Your main headache is obvious; it’s called Napoleon and his Grande Armée. Your problem is not only the emperor; it’s that he usually appears with a fearsomely effective retinue of collaborators like Murat, Berthier, Ney, Soult and Oudinot who make a bad situation worse (see Figure 7).

Your best weapons against this are Russian and Prussian generals and the masses of military units you any your Ally can assemble between the Armies of Bohemia and Silesia. Normally, you can reach a 3:2 ratio in the Coalition’s favor. That, along with some good military cards (Blücher is undoubtedly a terrible threat to an opponent like Napoleon), and the Generalissimo HQ marker can result in repeating the Allied triumph of the historic Battle of Leipzig.

Just one last reminder; Berthier’s damn card! It is a seemingly weak 2-value card with a sparse +2 DRM; although with the choice of a debilitating -4 DRM against your opponent’s battle dice roll! But don’t kid yourself! It is a terrible card for the Allies as it first allows Strategic Movement of two additional French military units, which will normally result in placing them where it annoys the Allies the most; and also, the French player gets two 2d6 rolls to choose the best one from in a battle involving Napoleon.  

That doesn’t seem like much, but in this case, you’ll only get a better dice roll than Napoleon 26% of the time versus the 44% probability you’d get if Berthier, his extremely capable and talented Chief of Staff, wasn’t there. Try not to be forced to trade Berthier to France when you’re at war (have another French card available to offer which won’t do such damage to the Coalition cause)!

The Italian Front 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, are just for you!). With Bellegarde and companions such as Gyulay and some other Austrian and Neutral battle cards; those should be more than enough to achieve an Italian Front victory

However, this comes with two potentially significant “buts”:

1) Italian spaces are considered French Home Country spaces (Imperial France annexed these lands years before the CoV game begins). See the Figure 5 map image which shows these with an “FR”. For this reason, France always has a +3DRM, representing local forces, fortifications, as well as other home terrain advantages, and if the French player places a Military Support Marker to oppose you, that’s another +3 DRM!

2) The Eugene card; its +4 DRM can be devastating against you, although you can 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 saved) for the Italian Front to provide another +3 additional DRM to 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 because of these circumstances (see Figure 8).

Don’t forget to place enough troops for track E with a Military Support Marker in your invasion of Italy if you don’t want your Austrians risk becoming the military laughingstock of Europe!

The War of 1812 in America Box & The Peace of Ghent: Undoubtedly the War of 1812 does not directly involve Austria. However, it can affect Austria very negatively if Britain or France obtains many VP from that box and sway the game to their favor. Of course it can be terrible for you if one of these players gets the Peace of Ghent or Canada Annexed Issues. That’s a 3 VP award each turn which could obliterate your 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 Sheerbroke and/or Tecumseh cards with the British player. Those cards will surely take the wind out the French player (and indirectly for their American cockerels).

 Conversely, if Britain is destroying the American position (and gaining too many VPs in this theater of operations) there’s nothing fancier than trading the Andrew Jackson card to France to defeat the hated “red jackets”. Why not repeat The Battle of New Orleans British setback multiple times as a means to Austrian victory?

A Final Touch…

As you will note, it is not an easy task to attain victory with Austria… but it is certainly possible with adroit and careful play. You don’t have to do everything perfectly; just a little better than the rest of your particular game’s players!

Austria has excellent cards for diplomacy and your Metternich Leader will aid you a lot as has been previously explained. You should also “receive” British foreign aid money to finance your goals and you will have near the power of Russian and Prussian Armies to defeat Napoleon. What more, then, do you want to help achieve a glorious Austrian Congress of Vienna game victory?

Footnotes

[1] “You happy Austria, marry; while others conduct wars!” (Austrian motto, free translation from Latin). CoVGame Editor Note: This phrase, coincidentally, appears in another GMT game: Kutuzov, which concerns the French 1812 invasion of Russia, one of The Napoleonic Wars series of CDG games.  “Tu Felix Austria” is Kutuzov’s next to lowest level of French morale.  It is followed by “Sauve Qui Peu!”… a horrendously disastrous morale level for the French invaders to surmount.

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