'Classic Six' Initiative Order

Following on from a tweet/blog post by Half Minotaur Farmer (who covers this for d20 Initiative), and a recent DIYRPG/OSR Tweet (the author of which I cannot now recall) of using Ability Scores other than DEX for Initiative modifiers:

For reasons of simplicity, I prefer the straight DEX Initiative order of games like Call of Cthulhu to the d6 vs. d6 per round or the d20 set-up of D&D-adjacent systems, but suggest the following alternative: use all the Ability Scores to determine initiative - the specific score depends on where you're up to in the combat.

With the 'Classic Six', I'd take the following order, rounds 1 through 6:

• DEX (reflexes, reactions, speed)
• INT (planning, strategy, observation, memory)
• STR (the inexorable tide of steel, the fighter's surge)
• WIS (it's a screaming bloody mess now; in the confusion, trust your instincts and sixth sense)
• CON (after the initial adrenaline, combatants may already be starting to flag)
• CHA* (it's all down to luck and divine favour now)

Presumably, at round 7, we just start again.

However...

Maybe 6 rounds/1 minute is the soft cap for a combat encounter, and instead of 'death' being the victory condition, it can be whichever side has the upper hand at the start of round 7. 

Round 7 is when you flee, surrender, reload**, call for parley, beg for/show mercy, and is a convenient time for Morale checks (if you use them). 

If you're very strict on interrupted castings or like the dramatics of it, this could be the island of calm that allows a spell-caster to call down the flames of heaven and wipe from the map the apparent victors.

For an added layer of elaboration (and with agreement at the table), it might be possible to use different Ability Scores vs. each other; maybe by sitting out a round, DEX could be used to overcome INT, for instance.

* I don't use CHA as the go-to social stat; I'll explain if/when I discuss Ability Scores.

** For post-medieval/early-modern firearms, you could make this the rule for reloads and the pay-off for higher damage.