The Powers - Part 5: Heiß umfehdet, wild umstritten

In this series, I'm going to take a brief look at the seven powers in the game of Diplomacy.  This will be not much more than a brief introduction to each power, looking at their position on the board, their neighbours and the pros and cons of playing them.  More detailed strategy will follow in future posts.

Austria-Hungary is the third and last of the central powers.  She is a tough power to play.  She has three immediate neighbours, and Turkey just the other side of the Balkans.  She's cut off from England and France, and therefore has to ensure that she isn't attacked by more than one power at a time.

Austria has to be played aggressively if she is to do well, but aggressively-defensively... which makes no sense, I know.  Her problem is that, if she ignores her defence, she is easily swamped but, if she doesn't attack, she is slowly swamped.  It's a fine balance.

There is, of course, the Venice/Trieste issue to deal with.  Should Austria order F Tri-Ven?  Simply, no.  It's not likely to work because, if Italy is going to be aggressive, she'll order A Rom-Ven and the two units will bounce.  While this may secure Trieste, leaving Italy potentially with just her army in Tyrolia to attack, Austria's fleet is best moving to Albania, in almost any situation.

Why Albania?  Because it gives Austria a chance at Greece.  If Austria opens with F Tri-Alb and A Bud-Ser she has two units on Greece.  To prevent her taking it, Italy will need to forego taking her banker Tunis and still need support from a Turkish army in Bulgaria.  Unlikely.

It should be possible for Austria and Italy to reach at least an understanding that prevents Italian aggression.  If Austria isn't worried about Italy, losing Trieste isn't quite the end of the world (although it isn't good, either).

The problematic space for Austria is Galicia.  Should Russia order A War-Gal and succeed, Austria has more problems.  From Galicia, that Russian army has a 50-50 chance of taking Vienna or Budapest, in most situations.  This means that Austria should probably order A Vie-Bud to bounce it.

Actually, a bounce in Galicia is a good result for Austria.  She can then cover Trieste, if need be, and not worry about Russian aggression straight away.  Her real problems come when Italy and Russia attack together which is, unfortunately for Austria, a not uncommon event.

The only real move Austria must make is A Bud-Ser which means she gets Serbia no matter what.  There is an argument for A Bud-Rum to bounce a possible F Sev-Rum from Russia.  But, actually, Austria shouldn't really be worried by this order because a Russian fleet in Rumania is much better than an army.

Like Germany, Austria should be looking for non-aggression pacts (NAPs) with most of her neighbours.  With Germany, it shouldn't be a problem.  Austria's concerns are in the south; Germany's in the west.  An active Dual Alliance with Germany isn't usual at this point in the game, unless Germany is secure in the west and looking to attack Russia.

Turkey isn't an immediate threat to Austria so an Austro-Turkish alliance (the Osturk alliance) is actually quite a good thing, I believe.  This isn't a common view, but I'm looking at the early game here.  Yes, later in the game, Turkey will be in a position to move straight through Austria, but early on the common enemy neighbours both powers: Russia.  Not really much point in having a NAP with Turkey.

The Austro-Russian alliance - the Peppermint (no idea why: an alternative name is the "Austronaut" but I like Peppermint as a name) - is useful if it allows the two to move against Turkey, but this can be slow moving without Italy on board.  This triple alliance I call the Gobbler.  Again, Austria isn't in a secure position later on, sandwiched between Italy and Russia, but if Russia can move west, it allows Austria to focus in Italy.

If Austria can build an alliance with Italy (the Adriatic alliance) the two will focus on Russia and Turkey simultaneously, if they can.  But this takes some time.  It may be better to simply shut the door on Turkish expansion using fleets, while pushing Italian armies through northern Austria to move on Warsaw.

However, if Austria can secure NAPs with Italy, Russia and Germany early on, she'll do OK.  It will give her some luxury over which proves to be the most likely ally moving forward.

After Italy, Austria is probably the least liked power to play.  She's is possible the most vulnerable power on the board to a dual alliance.  The Russo-Italian alliance (the Wintergreen) is dangerous; the Russo-Turkish alliance (the Juggernaut) is dangerous.  Even the Unholy alliance (Italo-Turkish) is problematic, just not as usual as the other two.

I've mentioned the Gobbler triple alliance above (A/I/R); what of Austria's other possible triples?  The Central Triple (A/I/G) is a common alliance, allowing the three central powers to turn their attentions outwards securely.  But it isn't very effective in practice as none of the three are easily able to work with the others.

The Tia Maria triple (T/I/A... *hic*) is useful to aim at Russia, if a little slow moving.  Italy is late to the party, having to get into Greece.  It also leaves Austria between Italy and Turkey, or Italy with two opponents at her back, or Turkey with a potential Austro-Italian blockade.  Not very common, therefore.

The Eastern Triple (A/R/T) too easily turns into a Juggernaut (mentioned above) and Austria is swamped.  Plus it probably requires Austria to move against Germany.

THE POWERS series:

1. Rule Britannia (England)
2. Vive la France
3. Dov'è la Vittoria? (Italy)
4. Blühe, deutsches Vaterland! (Germany)
5. Heiß umfehdet, wild umstritten (Austria-Hungary)
6. Walls of Steel (Turkey)
7. The Beast from the East (Russia)