The Riddle of Steel: why not using all dices to attack ?

[Lacco]

What is RED and WHITE?

I know what colours are but what does that actually mean here? I don't have the rules for Riddle of Steel (or the mass combat rules in Flower of Battle) but I have been able to figure out most of it from context. These I am still confused about.

Initiative throw.

Initiative in RoS works differently from D&D.

You have two combatants (a duel). Each player takes a red & white die.

Red represents your character decides to attack (goes offensive).

White represents your character decides to defend (goes defensive).

You have both in your hands, pick one. On GM's command you both throw a die on the table.

It's a double-blind system for designating who is the attacker and who is defender, and for determining initiative (imagine "initiative" as a token that says "your attack will hit first").

There are three possible results:
White-White - both are defensive. You circle your opponent, waiting for an opening. Initiative stays undetermined.
Red-White - attacker vs. defender. Standard situation. One of the characters attacks, the other defends. Initiative goes to the attacker.
Red-Red - two attackers. Both attacking at the same time. Boooy, this will be messy. A roll is required to see who hits first, initiative stays with the one who either hit last or has dice remaining in his pool. If both are out of dice, initiative resets (new round, you throw down again).

Does that make sense now?

In practice, it gets a bit more messy (you can buy/steal initiative), but these are the basics.