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As I began writing this preview, Armello was on the cusp of Kickstarter success. As I finished it, it achieved that success, comfortably passing the $200,000 AUD mark with a couple of days still to run. It's a validation for League of Geeks, the patchwork development team behind the project because, while Kickstarter is often a source of funding for many niche projects, it's fair to say that Armello is particularly niche, perhaps even quite singular.Armello's developers call it a "digital board game" but it's not simply an app conversion of an existing board game. It's a digital incarnation of an entirely original board game, a fantasy game that League of Geeks first created in physical form. That iteration was only a means to an end, a way for the team to rigorously test its mechanics and balance before it transcended our material plane to become electronic entertainment.
It's akin to making two games, one after the other, and it certainly hasn't been a quick process. Three years ago, League of Geeks (who describe themselves as a "development collective" whose day jobs have them working on other projects) came together out of hours with the intention of creating a board game for tablets that would make the most of what the platform had to offer.
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