City Fight - Test Game Two

Today we had our second city fight game.  Six players with 600 points each.
3 x German vs an allied US, British and Australian force.

3 Objectives and 3 dice bags operating at the same time all on a city filled 4' x 7' board.

This isn't a full after action report but more reporting on highlights.
Having a dice bag for each pair of players really pushes the game along.
The Germans were the same as last time with an additional army containing a Puma, MMG, Medium Mortar, HQ and 3 regular infantry squads.
The Allies had a small change to the US replacing the HMG with a Bazooka.
The Australian Army had a HQ, Sniper, MMG, 3 regular infantry squads and a PIAT.

A laser pointer was of great benefit is proving line of sight for the Sdkfz 222 firing at the British HQ running up a lane.  We still gave hard cover considering the narrowness of the shot, but it was in range.
The Puma rushed up and fired at the Australians advancing in the open, but only getting a pin. The PIAT advanced on the Puma (who forgot to Recce away) but only rolled a 2 to miss.
The German MMG and spotter placed themselves really well in the second story of a building overlooking the objective on their side of the board.  The sniper fired, hit the MMG but failed to kill. The sniper was then killed by a German infantry squad, but he had done his job.  That one pin meant the MMG failed order rolls for the rest of the game.

The British PIAT fired at the Sdkfz 222 that was just in range across the square but missed.  The British artillery came down on the Hotel in the square, hitting everything within 12 inches - including the British veteran airborne squad which had already been hit by the German MMG and mortar. The biggest result was hitting down two floors and then getting a 6 to get a full strike against a German squad controlling the middle objective from the "safety" of the building.  Wiped out!

Sarissa Precision Fountain - turned out well.

The German Panzer IV once more controlled the objective area, destroyed the Chaffee and caused great annoyance for the US player.  But the US squads controlled the actual objective.  Too much infantry for the Germans to push out, and the Bazooka finally hit the Panzer IV in the last turn with only a stunned result.

In the end the Germans lost with the allies controlling 2 of the 3 objectives, the last being contested.  A 7th turn would not have made a difference so the game was called.

What did we learn from today's game?

1. We need more dice rolling containers.  On a board as full as this there is no safe place to roll the dice. Especially when we apply the home rule that if the dice falls off the table it is a miss.After all, if you can't hit the table, how can your guy hit the target?
2. Separate dice bags work great.  The games move fast and everyone is involved at all times.
3. Each army co-operates really well with units moving across areas all the time.  If a player takes too long to choose, he may find the opponent from another dice bag has moved potential targets before he can act.  That really helps encourage prompt action!
4. 600 point armies are great!  There are enough points to provide variety but not enough to slow things down or allow any dodgy gamey stuff.

5. Unit Cards are essential for new players.  It increases learning game knowledge greatly, minimising the lost look as more experienced players throw unit stats at them.