@djensen If the goal with the bidding rules is to speed up game time start, then I would suggest something like:
“If exactly one team has made a bid by the official game start time, that bid is automatically accepted. If neither team has made a bid by the official game start time, then the referee will take the average bid made across all tables so far at the tournament, apply it to that table, and flip a coin to determine which team will play which side.”
For purchasing after your clock has run out, I wouldn’t give any significant extra time. You already used all your time; that’s the whole point. I would say that if your clock hits 0:00.00 during your purchase phase, then you lock in any units that are currently sitting in the unit purchase box, any remaining income gets converted into infantry in the unit purchase box, you have 30 seconds to put any units in the unit purchase box in any secondary factories you might want to defend (e.g. India), and then any units left in your purchase box at the end of the 30 seconds go to your capital (e.g. London) or (if your capital is full) are wasted.
