Ardunio for lightsaber LED pulse effect

Hi guys, just wondering if you could help me with selecting a micro-controller for making a circuit to pulse a short string of LED's.
The aim of my project is to get the LED's to constantly (slowly and dully) pules and have the ability to edit the pule times and the brightness (programming?). The other main goal is to have it flash when a momentary clash sensor/switch is contacted and stay on while the switch is closed.
I'm hoping it will turn out sorta like this except with only 1 color.

or
Saber Flash on Clash (FoC) Circuit - YouTube but with pulsing
Any advice or info much appreciated. thanks in advance, Jesse

The other thing is the board cant be more than 30mm in width, length isn't as important.

Any of the arduino boards can do this. You control the brightness by using the PWM output of a pin using analogWrite();
There is lots of information here:-

Awesome, could you recommend one that is under 30mm across and were i could get one.

As you haven't filled out your location in your detailed I can't say where you can get one but this is small:-

Cool, so if i get one of these it should be able to do everything i want?
I am still reading through the tutorials and other posts to learn how to use these controllers.

so if i get one of these it should be able to do everything i want?

Well it won't allow you to have sex with Lady Ga-ga, or other such desires but along with a few transistors you can drive as many LEDs as you can fit into a saber.

Haha awesome, will buy one and give it ago. Thanks a heap.

Hi again, just wondering if I could have your email. Will save me from posting more silly questions on here.
just have a few questions about transistor and other things. thanks Jesse

Just use the Personal Message (PM) system on the forum to contact me directly.