2020 EDIT: This tier list, while accurate at the time, is significantly outdated after 3 years of the metagame evolving. Please see an updated version HERE, written by RoganJosh (as of writing, the #1 FvA player on webDiplomacy.net).



Greetings! In this post I’ll be going over all ‘viable’ openings for France vs Austria. If an opening isn’t on this list, it’s considered so bad that it will invariably lose you the game at a high level of play.

France Openings

Tier S

Belgian Waffle – Bre-ENG, Par-Pic, Mar-Bur

This is the most used France opening at a high level, and for good reason.

Opening north with the fleet is generally your only way to pick up London early, because if you send the fleet south, your next fleet has to rush to the North Sea to ensure Austria doesn’t gain too much control over Scandinavia – skipping London – and future fleets will often need to skip London to reach the front line in time as well. As France is often quite center-starved going into the mid-game, that one extra SC can make a huge difference in performance. Additionally, a fleet send north in 1901 can pick up one of Denmark/Norway in 1902 and either hold the Austrian at bay in StP, or go to Baltic and aid your forces on the German front.

Sending an army into Picardy guarantees a build from Belgium immediately, and also guarantees that France can either take Kiel in the second year, or, less frequently, convoy the army north to Scandinavia if the Austrian is pressuring that area with multiple units. Getting an army past the Munich chokepoint and into Germany immediately can give France a large amount of control over the German front, which is extremely important as France’s win usually requires control over Munich and Berlin.

Tier 1

Swiss Split – Bre-ENG, Par-Bur, Mar-Pie

The second most common France opening. The Swiss Split is very interesting in that it places a huge amount of importance on the opening guesses – if you play this opening, you are gambling on Austria opening to Albania with the fleet instead of Venice. If Austria opens to Albania as you hope, you begin the game with a large advantage in being able to contest Italy – but if he opens to Venice, you start the game a build down, and the disadvantage that gives you is very difficult to overcome.

If you believe your opponent is significantly better than you, and you don’t have much of a chance of winning without some initial advantage, this opening can be worth going for – but bear in mind that it fails against the most common Austrian opening (the Anti-Alpine) so there’s a good chance that it loses you the game.

Tier 2

Maginot Opening – Bre-MAO, Par-Pic, Mar-Bur

This opening is identical to the Belgian Waffle, with the exception that the fleet is being sent south instead of north. Immediately, there’s very little difference – your fleet will pick up Spain in the first year, giving you the same amount of builds, and you’ll still have some chance of contesting Germany. The southern start also allows you to contest Tunis, which is a province often required in Austrian rush strategies, so it can be strong in this respect.

Contrary to expectation, though, this opening does not help much in contesting Italy, as in order to actually take Italian centers you need a strong southern army presence. Getting a strong southern army presence requires builds, and this opening usually leaves France very build-starved, as London must be skipped to keep Austria out of Scandinavia, and Austria will be in StP soon enough to bounce you out of Norway. The Waffle is usually superior for this reason, unless you’re against players who often don’t immediately send a unit to StP, particularly those who favour the Italian Opening.

Tier 3

Alpine Opening – Bre-MAO, Par-Bur, Mar-Pie

This is the gambler’s version of the Maginot. Almost everything I mentioned for the Maginot applies here, but you sacrifice your early position on Germany for a chance at contesting Italy.

This will straight up lose you the game against the most common Austrian opening, which is why that opening is called the Anti-Alpine. It provides you with the upper hand against openings which send the fleet to Albania, which is why it’s considered to be (just about) viable, but even there it tends to perform worse than the northern fleet equivalent, the Swiss Split, due to the ease with which Austria can take most of Germany against this opening. I would not advise using this in any circumstances.

Austrian Openings

Tier S

Anti-Alpine – Tri-Ven, Vie-Tyo, Bud-Gal

This opening is incredibly consistent. Sending the fleet to Venice provides a huge advantage against the Swiss and Alpine openings, often forcing the French player to give up Munich in order to allow them to put their southern army in a decent position (Tyrolia). It also fairs surprisingly well against non-guessy openings, with a clear path for the fleet to take in 1902 (-Apu-Nap) and is a good setup for a number of rush strategies, as building a second fleet after the first year and sending it to Greece will allow the Austrian to force Tunis and to hold it for several years at least.

The Galicia move allows the Austrian player to play reactively, as the French player must choose their opening and builds before Austria decides whether to commit that army to Munich (War-Sil in S02) or Scandinavia (War-Mos-StP). However, it provides a slight downside in rush openings as Warsaw is a very easy center to take later on, whereas Sevastopol is fairly difficult to take efficiently if the first unit is sent to StP in 1902.

Rumanian Anti-Alpine – Tri-Ven, Vie-Tyo, Bud-Rum

This is the common ‘rush’ variation of the Anti-Alpine, and for the most part has the same advantages and disadvantages. The main difference is that this opening sacrifices the ability to choose where to send the Sevastopol unit in 1902 – it always has to go to StP – which means you give France the potential to act reactively, making it weak against certain counter-rush strategies, such as a 1902 French convoy into Norway. However, it does set up for a 1905 (sometimes even 1904) Austrian win much more effectively than the standard Anti-Alpine.

Tier 1

Porcupine – Tri-Alb, Vie-Tyo, Bud-Gal

This opening is slightly stronger against the Belgian Waffle than the Anti-Alpine and its variations are, but is incredibly weak against openings to Piedmont. The idea behind this opening is that you increase your initial risk so as to allow you to take Tunis in 1902, which can give you the possibility of getting a fleet into the Mid Atlantic – if France does not block it, this can win you the game by itself, pinning a French fleet in Brest and preventing any further northern fleet builds. It tends to be better as part of a long term strategy (attempting to take and secure one or both of Berlin/Munich, and take the Turkish/Balkan centers once that’s been accomplished) than it is as part of a rush due to the fact that it’s not as good at taking the Italian centers quickly as other openings, but if the opening gamble pays off, it’s still a very strong opening.

If the opening gamble does not pay off, you’ll be playing on the back foot for the entire game. A 1901 move to Piedmont from France will usually force you to choose between contesting Italy and contesting Germany early – choosing to contest Germany will leave your home centers threatened for a significant portion of the game and will tie down units, and choosing to contest Italy will often let France take Germany for free. I’d generally advise against this opening for that reason, unless your opponent has a very rigid meta of sending their armies north.

Rumanian Porcupine – Tri-Alb, Vie-Tyo, Bud-Rum

This is to the Porcupine as the Rumanian Anti-Alpine is to the Anti-Alpine. It’s slightly better for rush strategies due to it leaving Warsaw for the second unit to take, but aside from that is not particularly different.

Boh/Rum Anti-Alpine – Tri-Ven, Vie-Boh, Bud-Rum

This is a variation of the Anti-Alpine which is focused on contesting Germany heavily very early. The idea behind it is to bounce Munich in 1901, and in the Spring of 1902 send Bohemia to Silesia, backfilling Tyrolia and Bohemia with newly-built units to immediately place three units on the German front. Meanwhile, the unit in Rumania is free to take St Petersburg.

It’s better as part of a long-term strategy than as part of a rush, as you’re focusing a lot of units on a few important centers, and thus won’t be getting as many builds as you would usually. It’s quite important to secure both Munich and Berlin with this opening, as having fewer units in the early game may well allow France to take Tunis, meaning you’ll need the German centers to win the game.

It’s quite a lot worse against Piedmont openings than the standard Anti-Alpine, as France does not have to let you into Munich to get his southern army into Tyrolia. It also suffers against northern openings in that it allows France into Piedmont in the second year, which can cut support and generally be quite annoying for the Austrian player to deal with.

Tier 2

Italian Opening – Tri-Alb, Vie-Tyo, Bud-Tri

This is the ‘safe’ opening that allows Austria to quickly take Tunis. It defends against Piedmont openings more than the Porcupine by allowing the Trieste army to bounce Venice while Tyrolia bounces Munich, and gives a standard double build against northern army openings.

Generally speaking, though, it’s quite weak – the fact that you’re not sending a unit to Warsaw or Rumania means that you don’t have the option to go for StP in 1902, which gives France a lot of leeway in what they decide to do in Germany and with their northern fleet, and is especially weak against French convoys into Norway, as this allows France to almost immediately get units behind your lines via StP.

It’s worse against southern army openings than the Anti-Alpine, and worse against northern army openings than the Porcupine. I wouldn’t advise playing this opening.

Italian Opening (Bohemian Variation) – Tri-Alb, Vie-Boh, Bud-Tri

This is essentially identical to the Italian opening, except that it’s slightly better against northern army openings and slightly worse against southern ones. Generally speaking, though, there’s not enough of a difference to write any more about it, as it tends to end up in either an identical position or an extremely similar one by 1903.

Bohemian Anti-Alpine – Tri-Ven, Vie-Boh, Bud-Gal

This is a slightly worse version of the Boh/Rum Anti-Alpine. The reason for this is that focusing on Germany heavily early (as Bohemian variations aim to do) tend to leave you unit-starved, so taking Warsaw instead of Sevastopol in 1901 is a significant downside – you tend to want to send the unit to StP anyway, so the only real difference is that there’s one less easy build for you to pick up in the earlygame.

Russian Opening – Tri-Ven, Vie-Gal, Bud-Rum

Contrary to what you might expect, the natural followup to this opening is Gal-Rum, not Gal-War. That’s because this opening lets France take Munich, and that’s not something you can afford to do without a very specific strategy in mind. In this case, the second unit becomes staggered and picks up Rumania and Moscow, centers that Austria can’t usually afford to take until much later.

The idea behind this opening is to hit Scandinavia early, as fast as possible, with the objective of securing at least Norway. From there, it becomes a standard rush strategy, but you can afford to lose one of the normal rush centers (Usually Warsaw or Tunis) and still win, because you have the extra center in the north. Sweeping centers quickly tends to be easier because of the extra build you gained by not bouncing Munich.

I haven’t had much experience with this opening, but I’m unconvinced by it. A triple build for France is much better than a triple build for Austria, especially early on, and if France realises what you’re doing it can very easily be countered by a convoy to Norway.

Tier 3

Russian Opening (Albanian Variation) – Tri-Alb, Vie-Gal, Bud-Rum

This opening is strictly worse than the standard Russian opening because it immediately loses the game against any Piedmont opening. Aside from that, it’s essentially the same as the Russian, with the same upsides and downsides – it can take Tunis earlier, but the main point of the Russian opening is that you don’t need to take Tunis, so that’s not much of an advantage, and you’ll find it difficult to get units into Italy to take those SCs in this variation.

Bohemian Porcupine – Tri-Alb, Vie-Boh, Bud-Gal

This is a version of the Porcupine which aims to contest Germany in the same way that the Bohemian Anti-Alpine does. However, it sacrifices any control you would otherwise have had over Piedmont and Venice, which isn’t all that much of a deal in the Anti-Alpine, but is terrible for Austria here, to the extent that it straight up loses the game against any Piedmont opening.

It can work against northern army openings, but the small advantage you gain is definitely not worth the risk of immediately losing.

Boh/Rum Porcupine – Tri-Alb, Vie-Boh, Bud-Rum

This essentially has the same upsides and downsides as the Bohemian Porcupine.

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That’s every opening that’s considered somewhat viable. I hope this resource is helpful to you! If you have any questions or comments, please post them in the forum thread on webDiplomacy. Bear in mind, this is an opinion piece – there’s always going to be some level of disagreement between players of a high level – but it is written by a very experienced FvA player, so it’s definitely worthwhile as a starting resource.

CaptainMeme