I did find a workaround to watch replays from a file while being in queue, which is a requested feature but is not implemented into the client. For that you will need the Python client in addition to java client, as it allows launching replays without the client actually running. Download here:
https://github.com/FAForever/client/releases
Then you will also have to add a section of code to the game.prefs file in order to launch multiple instances for FA at once:
debug = {
enable_debug_facilities = true
}
source: https://forums.faforever.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=14434
Finally you will have to select the python client exe as the (default) program to open replays:
Now you should be able to launch replays while in queue. But the replay must be of the current game version. Otherwise the launch will fail I presume. (Afaik this is the reason it is not implemented in the client atm)
