Picked up the only copy at my LGS and it is gorgeous! Trying to budget time for our first game--how long is a game for you lucky few who have already played?

I'd go with 1-2 hours as long as you play the tutorial mission first and learn the mechanics.

Turns go pretty quickly. Always encourage people to just go for it. The game favors seat-of-your-pants plays.

Picked up the only copy at my LGS and it is gorgeous! Trying to budget time for our first game--how long is a game for you lucky few who have already played?

It moves pretty smoothly, but I was only doing 1v1 with a friend learning the game today. Moves really fast once a solo marine gets a chainsaw too. Glory kill stacks everywhere.

I've played 4 games now; the first two took around 3 hours, the second two took two, and two-and-a-half hours respectively. So I'd say the 2-3 hours estimate is pretty close, but you might plow through faster once your group has really got the flow of the game down.

It all depends really. First few games will be slow getting rules memorized and remember cards and effects. Our Invader player isn't that tactically minded and takes too long to make his decisions, and want's to play marines anyways, so I'll be taking over invader from now on. whoever can strategize efficiently and quickly as the invader will shorten your game time. Honestly ffg's "Suggested play time" is never exact. I usually add 30-45 minutes of game time to their idea of how long it will take.