Let's Talk Tactics: More Cityfighting

I've been having regular games with a player new to the hobby of 40k: My friend of 10+ years and now my newly-promoted manager at work. I got him into playing 40k recently when I gave him a 1500 point Space marine force to call his own (yes it was very generous, but I knew that is the only way I would get him hooked). Now, at least one night a week, we try to get together to have a game. We almost always play Cityfights because it purposefully unbalances the game. If we played the same 3 scenarios out of the standard rulebook, our games would stagnate quickly. To get to the point, my friend has brought a fresh pair of eyes to the cityfighting aspect, and has taught me a few things about successfully navigating the ruins.

The method is there for a reason-
It may seem ridiculous to follow all the rules for deploying a unit at a time, rolls for who chooses stratagems first, and so on. Soon, however, you will find that there a great deal of importance in following those mundane rituals. It is all about either anticipation, if you go first; or reaction, if you are going last. My friend is good at holding his cards close to his chest. I was not exactly thrilled, when declaring the last stratagem, that he declared he was taking Tank Traps. For that game, I was taking a heavily mechanized IG army, so Tank Traps really threw a wrench into my strategy I had been forming. Since he knew we were playing a High Ground mission, he cordoned off the streets leading to the objective building with tank traps so I would be forced to disembark. He was playing footslogging SM, so he had no trouble beating back any attempts on the building that were made by my IG on foot, allowing his squads to secure the building for 5 turns. I only barely forced a draw by bombarding the units into oblivion in the last turn.
If I had been able to react to what he was taking, I might have put a thorn in his side by putting razorwire or other infantry-inhibiting barriers on his side of the board, to counter his limiting of my mobility. Or I could have chosen something like Preliminary Bombardment, which might have either damaged/pinned enough units that I could have secured a foothold before he did.
When deploying, it is imperative to place your units carefully within your quarter. Since your Troops choices deploy first, they are the least able to account for other units you have to deploy. Most of his units that could seriously hurt my transports were in the Elite, Heavy Weapon, or Fast Attack slots. This allowed him to see where my troops were going to be deployed before he chose where to deploy his more specialized units. Luckily, the reverse is the same for me: I was able to see where the bulk of his troops were going to be and I was able to deploy my tank in a position where he could drop some serious hurt on them.
It's a balancing factor (one of few in CoD) to follow the pre-game method. Use your head, and try to force your opponent to go first when possible, so you can better react.