Mulligans - love ‘em or hate ‘em?


  • We’ve all been there, right?  You kick German butt with Russia on the western front and wrap-up your turn with a smug smile on your face (“Take THAT Nazi scum!”)… only to notice as Japan is deciding on their purchases that you forgot to make a non-combat move on your Japanese front.  You intended to do it.  You’d planned on doing it, but you got so wrapped-up in your gloating over Germany that it slipped your mind.

    “Uh, hey Bob?”
    “Yeah?”
    “I forgot to move these 3 infantry over here in my non-combat phase.  I fully intended to do it, I just forgot.  Do you mind if I move them?  I mean, you haven’t really started your turn yet.”

    Pretty innocent scenario with what most of us would consider an easy answer - “Sure, go ahead.”  But what if the move was more crucial?  What if it prevented you from taking a new territory?  What if it wasn’t a non-combat move?  At what point does the answer become NOT so easy?

    I play 99% of my games 1-on-1 against my best friend.  We’re pretty lenient with each other.  So lenient that we allow each other to walk-back disastrous attacks that were announced without noticing overwhelming enemy odds or with ignorance of some obscure rule that would result in an overwhelming loss.  More than once, we’ve both uttered the phrase “Well I wouldn’t have done THIS if I’d known/seen THAT.  C’MON!”

    I get that in tournament games or online games against strangers, you have to have a hard and fast no-mulligans rule to avoid anarchy.  But how do you handle it when it’s just you and your close friends?  Do you tense up with excitement as you see your opponent about to make a costly oversight, smugly pointing it out to him after it’s too late?  Or are you forgiving and lenient?

    I’m the latter.  Not that I’m above some smug gloating - ask my buddy.  I guess I just want to win because I’m the superior strategist, not because my opponent is ignorant of the rules or made a simple oversight.  How about you?


  • @IronWill:


    I guess I just want to win because I�m the superior strategist, not because my opponent is ignorant of the rules or made a simple oversight.  How about you?

    If I play a face-to-face match commanding the axis, I usually tell my combatant when he’s doing silly stuff. I also allow moves, maybe  even combat  moves, but this for sure depends on the specific situation on board. If I play the allies I’ll nearly always keep my mouth closed… :evil:
    I don’t warn my opponent during online games i.e. forum games, too.


  • Once the next player announces his purchases we don’t allow any further action from the previous player, but if he catches a move he forgot before the next player purchases units, we allow them to do it. It is also a big reason that the players around my table think about their purchases ahead of time.

  • '21 '20 '18 '17

    I also play most of my games against or with Maphead.  And usually I’ll ask and say, hey–gentlemen’s rules–do you see a bomber in range here?  something I missed?    He’s free to just say ya or whatever, usually we use this for our tournament practice and its not intended to be just a competitive game its a did this work—whats missing.

    As to a true mulligan, I figure its an early supper and just wrap it up after a few hours, or just play out and unusual or lost game and see what happens.  Half of our assumptions are based on idealized playouts that rarely occur in real life because of luck so its fun to see what can happen when things fall into the 10%th percentile or the oh crap that survived category

  • Liaison TripleA '11 '10

    I follow this general motto.

    “I want to play my opponent at their best”

    Which means give them the benefit of the doubt, or help coach their game on occasion.

    That said, come tournament time and the knives are out; I’m a bit more anything goes until dice are rolled, then things are generally locked in from that point.

  • '17 '16

    Once dice are being tossed about its definitely too late for “oh wait, I forgot to move…”

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