Nice write-up! Looks fun- and finishing a decent sized battle game in two hours is a plus- I might have a look at those rules (along with all of the other rules I'm trying to get a sense of...).
A rather mundane question, but: what do you use as your gaming surface? A blanket or sheet of felt? We got a long sheet of felt that covers the whole table, but it's a bit one-colored for my tastes- yours has a nice variation in tones.
Thanks for sharing!