“Loser’s Privilege” is an ancient and powerful doctrine, seldom seen or used, but can come up in rare occasions. Legend tells its origins were in Shogun games and the massive battles between Daimyos and Ronin armies amongst castles, the dice flopping hard for one side and the loser flipping the board as the ultimate gesture of defeat. A strange form of board game Seppuku.
The strict legal conditions to justify usage of “Loser’s Privilege” are as follows:
Loser’s Privilege can only arise after a battle decided by dice in a game involving three or more players, and only the attacker may invoke the right.
The battle in question must be between overwhelmingly in favor to close to 50/50 for the attacker. Attacks at less than 50% are insufficient prerequisites. Before the battle, any player can demand as a matter of right that the odds of victory be verified by an objective measurement. Best practices recommend usage of battle calculator or a “low-luck” analysis.
The battle in question must be decisive for the entire game and declared as such by the attacker. This must be acknowledged by everyone at the table either explicitly or implicitly. Best practices recommend the attacker declare the battle to be “for the game,” “decisive” or other such effective language. This declaration must be received and acknowledged by the other players. Again best practices recommend usage of a recording of some sort to verify.
If any players object to the declaration that the battle in question is decisive, the objection will be sustained and the declaration voided if all other players to the game, excluding the attacker, agree with the objection. Otherwise, the objection is overruled. However, any player who did register an objection that was overruled can “Appeal” the declaration. See below.
If conditions 1 through 4 above are met, the attacker may then conduct the attack with the option of invoking Loser’s Privilege. To invoke Loser’s Privilege the attacker must lose the battle. Any type of loss is sufficient. However, a victory at a cost greater than expected by the attacker is insufficient to allow the privilege, this includes ties.
After the battle in question has concluded and the battle was lost by the attacker, but before the invocation of Loser’s Privilege, any player who made an objection that was overruled per step 4 above may Appeal the determination of the objection. The appeal is resolved by a vote of the players over whether the battle in question should be redone using low-luck. If a majority agrees to do so, then the battle shall be redone accordingly. In games with an even number of players, any tie vote will be decided by die roll: result 1-3, then no low-luck reroll; result 4-6, then low-luck reroll. There is no Loser’s Privilege right for any attack done according to low-luck.
If the attacker loses the battle, all conditions above are met and there was no successful appeal, he then may proceed to invoke Loser’s Privilege by physically destroying the setup of the game as it stands immediately after the battle in question to such an extent so the game can no longer be playable. Best practices recommend the player invoking Loser’s Privileged use his best judgment in destroying the setup necessary to make the game unplayable but not so as to create an inordinate mess that would result in an excessively long cleanup time.
Historical Exception: a player who successfully invokes Loser’s Privilege in a Shogun, Ikusa or any original Milton Bradley Game Masters series game may by right physically flip the board.
See here for legislative commentary on the code:
https://www.axisandallies.org/forums/topic/33657/losers-privilege/4
