I think my downfall was a result of my bad playing, not the way the board was set-up. I think I could have avoided the situation at the end with the two FS/B's, but I think it's too easy for the FS to be brought out and used destructively quite early on and I didn't like that. I'm learning from my mistakes though, so I think I'll manage to avoid a traffic jam with my pieces this time. :)

As for the game length, you probably know by now that I prefer looong games to short ones, so my suggestions may reflect that. It's just me though, so if you feel a shorter game is better, then that's fine with me.