Article de strategie par Robert Schuppe

La variante de Budapest est une Ouverture Autrichienne

Joué l'autriche se base essentiellement sur la confiance. Parceque vous etes une puissance centrale , encerclées par d'autre pays et des centres neutres, vous avez une tache assez difficile.. si vos voisin decide de vous attaqués d'entree il y a tres peu de chose que vous puissiez faire.You just won’t be able to cover all of your bases. But Austria’s biggest weakness is its biggest strength at the same time. You have a lot of diplomatic influence and many centers to take not too far from your home country. The most important thing is to establish good relationships with your neighbors. If you can manage that, you will have a lot of success as Austria. The moves Bud - Ser and Tri - Alb are almost automatic for me. Focusing on getting Serbia and Greece in 1901 is crucial for a successful Austria in my mind. That leaves only Vienna for more creative approaches. Bouncing in Galicia or covering Trieste are the most common moves. In Spring 1901, I usually start off by asking Italy for the promise not to go to Trieste. With Russia, I will talk about Galicia. If they want to arrange a bounce there, I am happy to do that. If they say they don’t want to go there, I always ask what they want to do with their armies instead. Comments like “I’ll just hold Warsaw” will make me suspicious. In cases like that, I will usually ask for a bounce myself. If Russia wants to go North however and tells me they will move Mos - Stp and War - Ukr, I am happy to arrange a DMZ in Galicia with them – if I believe them to be genuine of course. By establishing trust with Italy and Russia early on, you can afford to send Vienna to neither Galicia nor Trieste. To put that army into Budapest provides you with lots of possibilities. If you have protected Galicia and Trieste diplomatically rather than with brute force, your options for Fall 1901 will multiply. Let’s look at what you can do with A Bud, A Ser and F Alb: 1. Go anti-Russian by preventing them from getting Rumania! Serbia supports Budapest into Rumania. Turkey will usually be more than happy to see that. By offering an AT-alliance and pitching this you can often convince Turkey to let you have Greece even though you are going there without support. Maybe you can even get Turkey to give you an additional support and you can get the rare three-build-Austria. 2. Go anti-Russian by sneaking into Gal in Fall and support yourself into Greece. This option should give you a solid position against Russia and a bit off added security not to get screwed by Turkey in Greece. 3. Go anti-Turkish by pitching an alliance to Russia! Use Budapest to support Ukraine into Rumania and thereby free up the Russian fleet to go into the Black Sea without having to fear to get bounced out of Rumania! As you can see, the position you get yourself into by sending Vienna to Budapest in Spring 1901 is juicy. Of course, it is a risk to leave Galicia and Trieste open. But as I said: Playing Austria is about trust. So, if you feel good about Italy and Russia not coming for you right away, trust your read and get yourself into a position where you can make the most of your game with Austria rather than dreading the bad things that could happen! Play with confidence not with fear!