[eia] dice re-roll policy

Given the recent stand-off about whether Prussia should re-roll its siege dice, perhaps it's time we had an open discussion about when dice rolls need to be re-rolled. (Admittedly, these are not the best circumstances under which to have such a discussion, i.e. when there is a pending controversy. But, to adapt one of Aragorn's lines in the Two Towers, "Whether we like it or not, an open discussion is upon us." [The line I'm referring to in the movie is when Aragorn tells Theoden that open war is upon him. Ok, so it's a lame reference. I've seen the movie 3 times in 3 days, so I've got Two Towers on the brain.])

Here's my opinion: it's a dangerous precedent for us to insist that whenever there is a problem with a player's orders that he should re-roll all his dice. Because after all, we often make little mistakes that we need to go back and fix (or at least I do). But if we thought that we would have to re-roll dice whenever we made a mistake, we would put off rolling dice until everyone has had a chance to look at our orders. Some may think that is a good idea, but I think we are better off with as few delays in the game as possible. Rolling dice quickly helps to move the game along, so I am against any policy that would make people reluctant to roll the dice.

It seems to me that dice should be re-rolled whenever the events in question have changed significantly. So for instance, suppose Prussia rolled for two sieges and then changed his orders such that a field battle would take place instead. Using his two siege rolls in place of the first two rounds of combat would clearly be inappropriate. Or if he wanted to use his siege rolls as forage rolls, that would also be inappropriate. Or if he changed his mind and decided to lay siege to different cities, I'd say that using the old rolls would also be inappropriate in that situation.

However, in the case at hand Jim made relatively small adjustments to his orders with the obvious purpose of laying siege to the same two towns he laid siege to in his previous orders. In fact, aside from supply costs, the only major change in his second set of orders was the fact that one fewer corps laid siege to Brest-Litovsk. I would think that decision would favor the Russians. But if it would satisfy Mike, perhaps Jim would agree to pay an extra $2 to move the Prussian corps with Brunswick to Brest-Litovsk. In that case, the result of the modified orders would be exactly the same as the original set of orders. Since there would be no difference at all in terms of corps placements between the revised and original orders, I can see no reason to insist that Jim re-roll his siege rolls under those circumstances.

Of course, this is just my opinion. I'm prepared to hear what others have to say. But I think we need to come up with some general guidelines regarding when it is appropriate to expect others to re-roll the dice. As I'm sure everyone understands, re-rolling dice can be a very traumatic experience, so we need to adopt a policy by consensus that we are all willing to live with.

kdh