[RobW]

This has been done to death already, but one more time!

Indeed you can change your options as you note. Now, what options can you choose from? In ITL Legacy RAW, that is -- not Advanced Melee, OG Wizard, are any of the other versions of rules available.

It can hardly be clearer in Legacy ITL RAW that the options available to you (and yes you can change between them) are based on your engagement status at the time of your movement. This is clearly SJ's intention in ITL Legacy and I would cite as evidence:
1.That is what the rules say, and in fact the phrase about options available based on time of movement is mentioned at least 3 times, and at least twice with emphasis.
2. The player option cards in DoD are designed this way and make little sense otherwise.
3. The hexagram article I wrote on this exact point was read by Steve. I wrote the article for an audience of 1 (SJ) in order to explain at length some -- just some -- of the problems with the new rules on combat options. And instead of rejecting the article (this is just wrong!!!), or issuing a clarification (really it's supposed to be just like Advanced Melee), he in fact accepted the point and produced a new player option card so that disengaged figures can select Defend. Not at all what I was hoping but at least he read it.

The rules you cite from p102 do not contradict this. These are different points. One set describes conditions allowing change of options (from the pointless initial declaration), and the other describes the options you can change between.

For you, me, and the majority of experienced TFT players, this doesn't matter. At all. Because I think few experienced players are using ITL Legacy RAW relating to combat options. We've been playing for years and encoded a set of rules we like and see no reason to change.

It's a bit of a shame, as the new RAW are evidently confusing for both new and experienced players. If I think about it, I get a little bummed out that SJGames wasn't able to use the community of long-time TFT players in their rules rewrite. It feels like a lost opportunity. But then I think that actually I'm really glad the game is living again, and that the different interpretations we all seem to have don't much matter for the health of the game, and certainly not for our own games.