Forgottenlor send us this review about the computer board game Armello.

There are four ways to win Armello. The first is to have the most prestige when the king dies. Prestige is collected by completing quests, slaying rival characters, and destroying rot beasts. Prestige is lost by dying or slaying royal guards. Some cards also reduce or raise prestige. The second way to win is to gather four soul stones and then confront the king. Soul stones appear at random in magic circles in the evening, and they also can be gained in certain quests. There is also one spell which lets you create a soul stone. The third way to win is to slay the king without dying, which is a daunting task as the king is a combat monster, and if one slays the king and dies, then the prestige leader wins. The last way to win is to get more Rot than the king, and then confront him.

Rot can be gained when the character is slain by a rot monster, or by casting some spells and by using some items. I found gathering rot extremely luck based and I often got more rot when I didn't want any than I did when I actively tried to collect it. Also Rot damages the character every morning and being killed by the Rot or a rot monster is an active hinderance to fininshing one's quests, which makes it a hard victory condition to attain. While having four victory conditions is great they are not at all balanced. Winning by being prestige leader is by far the easiest condition, as one can win without completing all 4 quests, and by squashing high prestige rivals. Collecting soul stones requires completion of all 4 quests and a little luck, but is still easier than trying to kill the king, which in turn is easier than collecting rot, which requires a good deal of luck with the cards. At least in the single player game, I was able to win fairly easily by concentrating on prestige, and the only games in which I lost to the A.I. were when one of my 3 A.I. opponents managed to win a prestige victory.

 I found a new preview for Armello based on the Early Access Beta on GameGrin.

As I’m sure you can tell, Armello impressed me a great deal. I’ve seen some shambolic games try to replicate this concept; the typical issue is that the games would just be better with a bunch of mates around a table. Armello dodges that bullet with a computer-reliant game that feels perfectly suited to solo play. Of course, that doesn’t mean you should avoid the multiplayer offerings, as despite the game still going through beta testing there’s plenty of opportunity to test your ability against real people.

Eurogamer has a new article style interview with the developers of Armello.

Armello is a digital board game, and it's very much the genuine article. It could function as a physical board game - I gather it would slot into your quiet, thematically-organised stacks somewhere near Mage Knight - but it works so much better digitally. The pieces have life and character: they are no longer just pieces, in fact. The maths, while simple, is all taken care of. The king, though? The king is the real reason everything fits to snugly. The king is not just a tumbler of dice and a series of hasty trips back to the rule book to see how many cards get dealt. The king is a real king here - really mad, and really dangerous. "The question for us during development wasn't whether the game would work, because we've been prototyping it on paper for eight months," says the gloriously named Trent Kusters, the founder of developer League of Geeks. "The question was: can we bring a board game to life?"

That's the question Kusters has had to answer, but what about you? What will you do? Kill the king or cure him? The kingdom is up for grabs, and everyone has a shot at it. But what shot should you take?

Palmer Sturman published a preview based on the Steam Early Access version of Armello on website called the Game Scouts. He enjoyed playing what the Beta offered.

So, let’s bring this whole preview full circle: Armello is brilliant. Why? Its simple veil can be lifted to expose a complex system, leading to a number of branching options easily fitting any play style. Victory can be achieved, but the path leading to it is fraught with possibility and wonder. Its presentation is magnificent, it’s art-style colorful and stunning, and considering it’s only in early access I can say with confidence that League of Geeks knows exactly what they’re doing. This game instantly got pushed towards the top of my “most anticipated” list and I can’t wait to explore how well it translates to tablets when it’s officially released.

The Pixel Dynamo website has published a new preview of Armello this week.

Although I was apprehensive about Armello launching first on Early Access. It wasn’t what was sold to me during the Kickstarter campaign, and Early Access has become something of a dumping ground for underwhelming and forever-incomplete games. However, Armello brings a surprisingly solid offering to the table right out of the gate. What is clear is that this is no rush job. In some form of development as far back as 2011, the core experience of Armello is extremely well-thought out and executed.

Rock, Paper, Shotgun's Marsh Davies published an early review of Armello based off the latest Early Access version on Steam this month. Here is a short sample.

I expect the devs have been thinking about this game for quite a bit longer than I have and could come up with a long list of reasons why things are the way they are. All the same, there is definitely something throttling the potential of Armello to be a good deal more dynamic and exciting than it is, even if I’ve failed to pinpoint that flaw. But if the devs’ design chops are on par with their artistic and musical talents, six months should be time enough to find it.

Developer League of Geeks is proud to announce you can now buy Armello on Stream to help fix, ans shape the game in the coming months on Early Access.

As you may have already seen, v0.3.0 has arrived! That means if you're on Armellian or the Listener tier your Steam key is ready for you - more details on how to get your keys here. We're sorry that this update is a little bit late, our launch to Early Access has been a busy one! 

If you have any pals that want to help make the best digital board game, share the Armello love! 

Now that we're live it means our Steam page is live too, if you haven't already checked it out head here. We'd love to see more of our backers on the community, so come say hello :)

This update is visually an absolute stunner. Some of the biggest changes include (but not limited to):

• Front end/Title screen overhaul
• New Hero Power animations
• Status feed overhaul
• Communications Stack 
• Overall AI improvements
• In-game Chat system
• 4 new cards: Lightning Strike, Glamour, Feral and Wyld Born.
• Card Gallery

There are heaps more changes and bug-fixes that have been added to this update, head over here for the full build notes.

Armello, a game we briefly covered during its Kickstarter campaign, is coming to Steam Early Access on January 22nd.  Although it hardly seems to fit the niche of the classic PC RPG, it may be of interest for some of our viewers.  The idea behind Armello is to blend card, board game, RPG, and strategy elements together.  For the curious, feel free to visit the official website here or check out the following write-ups from Rock, Paper, Shotgun, Eurogamer, PC Gamer, and Kotaku.

I received news about a kickstarter game called Armello from League of Geeks. The game is asking for $200,000, and is already half funded.

Here is the usual video & description.

Armello combines the adventure of role-playing games with the strategy of card and board games!

The King, once Armello's wise and benevolent ruler, has fallen ill to a dark and mysterious force known only as the Rot. Slowly eating his body and soul, the Rot twists him deeper and deeper into madness. In response, Armello's Great Clans have called forth their Heroes to claim the throne of Armello; and this is where you start your adventure, Hero.

As a 'Hero' from one of the Great Clans of Armello, you'll quest, scheme, explore, vanquish monsters, perform the Mad King's royal edicts and face off against other players with one ultimate end goal in mind — storming the palace and becoming king or queen of Armel