After attending Origins and playing in 3 out of the 4 SoG games Eric put on I can only conclude the following:

1. Keep it as simple as Eric did.
2. Keep the instructions simple as Eric did.
3. Watch the players and guide them through the first few turns.
4. Add in a few more rules.
5. Help them work out damage.

After 30 minutes playing, and all the games had 12 plus players, the players were running cpmbats themselves, marking damage and leaving Eric to run the game.

I played in 3 fantastic games had tons of fun. It only remains for us others to emulate this and crack on.

Neil