Introduction

To date I have been on the winning side twice as Austria. These tactics have been proven to work if you can forge the right allies and win at simulated battles. The one thing I can guarantee as Austria, you will never run out of enemies. I have had a lot of fun playing Austria. So give the following a try and see what you think.

Diplomacy

Early on you must come up with a plan for which direction to invade. Once you have decided you must try and stick to that decision. As everything you do from now on will show the other players where you think your boarders are safe and where your army is likely to be. I would always advise you to make friends with Prussia. You both have a lot to gain from this friendship due to the size of your boarder and the position of the Prussian mines.

Always try and fight one country at a time and to that end, try and declare war on one country at a time. I personally always like to be the aggressor and like other people reacting to my moves rather than the other way around. Of course if you are being invaded by more than one country this is not possible.

Examples:

In Au 88 I had an alliance with The Confederation Of The Rhine and Prussia while I invaded Turkey.

In Au147 I had an alliance with Turkey, Prussia and The Confederation Of The Rhine while I invaded Italy.

Please do not think that the above is a recipe for a winning combination because you are always open to a back stab by allies if your entire army is in another country. Or all the other players think you are part of a pre game alliance and attack you from all directions. (I have been in a game in which twelve players attacked a block of four countries, who were an obvious pre game alliance.)

Economy

I have one piece of valuable advice. Please look to see what goods are already in your European warehouse and use them to make your economic builds more effective. Please do not follow the advice to the word outlined in the rules as this shows the other players in the game that you are “The New Guy”.

There is no need to build estates before May. Your construction should be focused on Economic Point production in the first few months.

I personally scuttle my war and merchant fleets to put goods in my warehouse. If you scuttle your fleets you save the maintenance cost of 235000L each turn and the need to build Vineyards.

Examples:

February:	3 Factories, 3 Mines, 1 Mint, 1 Weaving Mill, 2 Sheep Farms
March:	1 Weaving Mill, 1 Lumber Camp, 8 Sheep Farms
April:	1 Weaving Mill, 5 Sheep Farms, 2 Lumber Camps, 2 Quarries
May:	10 Estates

Cavalry is expensive to build and train. Do not waste time building horse breeding farms until you go to war to replace your losses. Once you have a large army then you can build a cavalry corps to give your army more options in simulated battles. Do not build Vineyards until September to save maintenance costs. If you have destroyed your navy you will find wine is a good trading commodity when dealing with Turkey or The Rhine.

Brigades

I personally, like to build battalions in groups of 4. For example 28 battalions of Riflemen and 28 battalions of Grenadiers. This will maximise your effectiveness of your troops in large simulated battles. If you had 5 battalions of Fusiliers and three battalions of Grenadiers your Sim report will show you having 2 federations of Fusiliers available for deployment. The rules will always favour the weaker troop type. Your Grenadiers do not loose their higher training. But they will adopt all the formations available to Fusiliers in the coming battle.

In the first turn I will build quality troops where possible in multiples of 4. Please do not build quality every turn as you will run out of EcPts and money very quickly. I try and build Veteran Reserve for garrison troops and for use as flying columns to capture ground and to give the enemy something to chase while my main army is hunting out his main army.

Example of first month Troop Build:

La 2, Ma 2, Pi 1, Dr 2, Hu 2, Uh 1, Li 4, Vr 16

The above will give you multiples of 4 for each troop type in your army.

Try and build 8 brigades of Riflemen in turn 3 or 4, followed by 8 brigades of Grenadiers in turn 5 or 6 with Veteran Reserve in between. Do not bother training brigades of Veteran Reserve unless you are flush with money and EcPts. Veteran Reserve battalions are expendable.

Ships

I do not bother with fleets as there are too many countries with better navies than you. Rely on your strengths. You have one of the cheapest and strongest armies in the game. Do not get distracted with Africa and the colonies. If one of your allies has a colonial position, sell or give them your fleet. I scuttle my navy in the first three turns so that I don’t need to build Lumber Camps in the opening turns.

Colonies

See the above topic on Ships.

Strategies

If you have done all your builds economically and militarily you should have enough brigades to invade an unsuspecting neighbour with 4 columns in May. Please remember that when you receive your turn you are completing the next month’s orders.

Example:

You receive your turn listed January 1808. You are now completing the orders for February and not January. This is a common mistake amongst new players.

I like to bring my army together in one place so that I have an advantage in numbers over an enemy who has to defend more than one boarder. This is where choosing your friends well in the Diplomacy section pays off.

I strongly suggest you build a barracks in 46/34. This is a co-ordinate half way between 41/29 and 52/33. This means you can train and build troops to respond to an invasion at either end of your country.

Best of luck,

Phil.