As the topic says, I am considering buying Fae Noir.  My favorite part of gaming is combat, and I like my games to be fast and furious.  I was reading through the sample in order to get a handle on the speed of combat.  The system seems intuitive and easy to understand (I especially like the bit about defenders doing damage); however, I can't really get a feel for how fast it is.  I was wondering if anyone can tell me, for example, how long does a 4 on 4 combat series last in both rounds and minutes?

Also, I really enjoy playing gnomes.  Would they be classified as brownies, or maybe leprechauns, in this game's setting?

If I were to make a gnome out of one of the default fae races (and I would do so, they don't really fill a special niche, in my opinion) I'd say that they're Eastern-European elves. Brownies feel too big to me, but an argument could be made for them also.

The length of combat varies a bit depending on which weapons are being used. A fist-fight takes longer than a gun-fight because being shot is much worse for you than being punched is. That said, I'd estimate the combat you're describing as taking 2-3 rounds in most situations which would translate to perhaps 5-10 minutes of gameplay at most. Significantly less with a group who've played a couple of sessions.

If anyone has an actual-play example to back up a time measurement for this kind of combat, that would be great.