Thanks, and I appreciate several things there,
as for addressing the now controversial rule #9,
9 - Order of Play - You may not go back to previous phases/turns of the game and make changes without your opponent’s permission.
I carried this rule forward from my predecessor circa 2012 and who knows how many years it went before that. Like other league default rules, it’s definitely a good idea to set actual gamebook rules as the baseline and allow mutual agreement beyond that, otherwise, you’re starting from a new baseline that’s not universal or solid.
In person, if you start moving things in combat movement and then want to change your buy, it seems clear to me that your opponent does not owe you that lenience. Your opponent will probably allow it so that you would allow things like that for them too, but not necessarily.
Likewise, if you are placing your units and then want to change your noncombat you are not playing according to the rules.
Page 12 of the Europe 2nd edition manual details the order of play. Even within phase 1, purchase and repair units, there is a 3 step sequence.
#1 order units
#2 Pay for units and repair damaged units and facilities
#3 Place units in mobilization zone
This is a great example of how each action in A&A is to take place in a strict, certain order.
Another great example is the rule about the order of choosing battles to conduct combat, that is, all Strat bombing first, then amphibious assaults, and lastly general combat. (Page 16) For this rule, if one player follows it and another doesn’t, there is an advantage to the player breaking or being ignorant of the rule.
We play with TripleA on forum. We don’t #1 order units, #2 pay for units and repair damaged units and facilities, and then #3 place units in mobilization zone. We click the units we want to buy and we click done. The digital money is automatically deducted and carried forward. We don’t need to place in a mobilization zone. The program automates some of these steps and the strict step sequence is blurred.
We can save the game file at any time, and reload. So we can technically break the turn sequence rules all the time. US/China/UK goes 3 in a row. As long as there are no dice going to MARTI, any of us can reload a prior save and re-do everything, as many times as desired (ugh, the thought of it. Blasters are so uncivilized). Players can run things in local ad nauseum (ugh again). The only thing that’s live is dice. So basically players go back on a regular basis, all the time.
As we all know, when it comes to following turn order properly in TripleA, there’s only one thing you have to do. Change things before you post.
None of us are used to that, I get it. I’m one of the worst. I ask for edits. Sometimes 2-3 times, with a red face. Sometimes I really hope they haven’t started their turn yet and ask them to accept an edit days after I posted. I send e-mails and texts before I’ve re-read them, and then read them to my satisfaction right after I clicked send. And then send corrected words, with an asterisk. Why? Because I think I don’t make mistakes and I don’t want to take the time to re-read.
So I totally get it.
So with all of these capabilities to go back, to take all kinds of time, to mock up turns (ugh again lol), we have a longstanding practice since forever, like you said, of granting little gimmes and mulligans.
But yet the rules have been there longer than forever, and they serve an important purpose. They eliminate the possibilities of many potentially problematic issues/scenarios. Late edits are annoying. How much grace do you need to give. Etc etc I don’t have time to think up all the scenarios.
There’s not a rule for it but my old nephew used to abuse the undo function. It was really hard to tell what he had moved, unmoved, what he was doing, changed his mind, oh good grief he’s getting an advantage from all this confusion and it was all nice and convenient for him. I’d like to make a rule when playing him. He can use the undo button all he wants IF HE LOADS a previous save and gives me a clean copy. The printed transcript of TripleA is clean, but following it in the game…
Point is clear. Without a baseline rule, which is provided by the rulebook and also happens to make a lot of sense, too many interpretations and liberties can be taken.
So it’s just a habit. Check it over before posting. Sleep on it if the game is really important to you, and come back. But once you post, there’s nothing in the rules that let’s you take it back. It’s the same as if you play chess online and you click the button to make the move. It’s all about the habit we have. I click send on the email and the text because I know I can correct it. If I couldn’t correct it, I’d read it 2-3 times before clicking.
I say all this in a friendly intent as a fellow game enthusiast, and meant to help everyone and to clarify and increase enjoyment for all.
And you know what comes next? I click “submit” and THEN I read my post. Because as a moderator, I can edit it. But someone might read it, then I edit it, then I change it and they don’t know. BAD HABITS! 😂🤣😂🤣
