Freestyle turn taking

Just wondered:
My recent 2-player freestyle game was manual troops. I dropped first, then after my opponent dropped it told me I had to wait for him to start his go before I could start mine. Is that because I dropped first, and so was classed as having 'moved' first, or was he just randomly chosen to be the starting player?
Why even do that on the first round?
My recent 2-player freestyle game was manual troops. I dropped first, then after my opponent dropped it told me I had to wait for him to start his go before I could start mine. Is that because I dropped first, and so was classed as having 'moved' first, or was he just randomly chosen to be the starting player?
Why even do that on the first round?