Thanks for the feedback!
I can use it to improve the rules/ phrasing, to clarify the uncertainties and correct the faulty phrasings. The new version of the postcard should be uploaded before the end of this week.
What exactly were the players doing that the game took 120 minutes? In my "internal testing" (showing the game to myself and also three other people that are not me :) ), this has never occurred. I am guessing that players made an attack - maybe with a shield bash, maybe not, and then moved 'backwards' to rest and reduce the fatigue. In short, I think that in your game players were making different decisions than it did happen in the games that I've seen. (This is not a complaint, just a public realization that this design never received more intensive, "external" testing).
My meager tests always ended with one side receiving the second hit before drawing the very last card of a deck. Sometimes the game was even over before the first "reshuffle". My idea was that if the one player plays aggressively, they may end up overwhelming the other... or be rebuffed and effectively countered (and KO'd). From Your description, if the principle behind the player's decisions were to be sure (99% and more) of success, then yes - the game lasts longer.
Thank You for Your interest and time dedicated to the game!
Viewing post in Hoplomachos jam comments
Oh man, we must have been misplaying something if 120 mins is such an anomaly! Either that or there was a series of turns where we were both playing "passively", i.e. taking several back to back turns to rest, slowing progress to a wound. We'll give it another careful go and see if we get a different outcome.
I was wondering whether that 120 minutes included reading the rules and watching the YT video... but then again, it can be different when the players learn the game by themselves, when the designer is not "behind Your shoulder" etc. It may be also a sign that my rules are not clear or that they convey the wrong message.
In Your game, did You exhaust the draw pile (and all the reshuffles, as well)? I don't think that I have stated this in the rules explicitly... but my intention was that at some point, the players will run out of the cards to play... and after the last reshuffle (adding the "last face cards") - the cards that are played/ discarded are out.
I may need to add to the rules a remark that if all cards are 'used up''/ if the last card is used up, the game is over, probably in a sort of a tie.
We took about 30 minutes learning and got distracted in conversation, so I'm guessing we were really closer to around 60-90 minutes playtime. Next play we'll pay particular attention to any rules that misplaying could cause the game to go on longer. We discussed it some more and think maybe we played too conservatively and used rest several turns in a row to essentially reset the game.
For draw piles, we shuffled the last deck and went through a decent portion of the deck, but the game ended before we drew the final final card. We were close, so I could imagine a rare match where the game would need to account for exhausting all cards.