Lets go with an example
Its 4th bound and I have three regular commands
Command one which includes C-in-C has highest dice allocated to it
Command two has next highest
Command three has lowest
I roll 5, 3, 1
I allocate 3 of the 5 PIPs that Command 1 has to change orders (this will be to reassign my PIP allocation to the following)
Command one has lowest
Comamnd two has high/average
Command three has high/average
You can expend the 3 at any time during the bound but it will have no impact in Bound 4
In Bound 4 Command 1 has 2Pips for movement (5-3) left Command 2 has 3 and Command 1 has 1 because that was the allocation when the dice were rolled at the start of the bound
The C-in-Cs position on the battlefield in relation to the other commands is irrelevant to Changing Orders - there is no visibility or distance restrictions
Its now Bound 5
I roll 5, 4, 2
Command 1 now gets the 2
Command 2 now gets (5+4)/2 rounded down 4
Command 3 now gets (5+4)/2 rounded down 4
All three commands will suffer a PIP penalty this bound because of
(b) Order change confusion
If the C-in-C changed the command's orders last bound, unless by a brilliant stroke
So any troops moved/etc this bound pay 1 PIP more
Bound 6
PIP allocation as per Bound 5 and so on
Change Order Confusion is now not applicable
The C-in-C can change it again if he wishes - but in this example he will need to wait until the lowest dice is at least a 3 as his command now has the lowest dice allocated to it
The key paragraph in the rules is p26 Player Initiative Point Dicing - 3rd para
Hope this helps - its a useful one to get you out of scrapes or exploit advantage -
Regards
David Mather