Dark Ages

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Dark Ages
Dark Ages.jpg
Info
Type Large Expansion
Icon Dark Ages icon.png
Cards 500
362 (35 sets)
35
Other Card(s)
Theme(s)
  • Trash
  • Upgrading
Release August 2012
Official Rulebook PDF

Dark Ages is the seventh Dominion expansion. It was released in August, 2012. It is a large expansion, with 500 cards including 35 new kingdom cards, as well as other new types of cards such as Shelters, Ruins, and SpoilsSpoils.jpg. Many cards in Dark Ages have theme related to trashing and upgrading.

Contents

Contents

Basic Supply Cards

$0 Ruins (10 each) - Abandoned MineAbandoned Mine.jpg, Ruined LibraryRuined Library.jpg, Ruined MarketRuined Market.jpg, Ruined VillageRuined Village.jpg, SurvivorsSurvivors.jpg

  • Ruins are included when at least one of the Kingdom cards (or a card in the Black MarketBlack Market.jpg deck) has the Looter type.
  • The number of Ruins used depends on the number of players--10 for 2 players, 20 for 3 players, and so on.
  • The 5 different Ruins are shuffled together, so none of the players know what number of any given Ruins card is in the Ruins pile.
  • Only one card from the pile is visible and may be bought or gained at any time.

Kingdom Cards

$1 Poor HousePoor House.jpg
$2 BeggarBeggar.jpg, SquireSquire.jpg, VagrantVagrant.jpg
$3 ForagerForager.jpg, HermitHermit.jpg, Market SquareMarket Square.jpg, SageSage.jpg, StoreroomStoreroom.jpg, UrchinUrchin.jpg
$4 ArmoryArmory.jpg, Death CartDeath Cart.jpg, FeodumFeodum.jpg, FortressFortress.jpg, IronmongerIronmonger.jpg, MarauderMarauder.jpg, ProcessionProcession.jpg, RatsRats.jpg, ScavengerScavenger.jpg, Wandering MinstrelWandering Minstrel.jpg
$5 Band of MisfitsBand of Misfits.jpg, Bandit CampBandit Camp.jpg, CatacombsCatacombs.jpg, CountCount.jpg, CounterfeitCounterfeit.jpg, CultistCultist.jpg, GraverobberGraverobber.jpg, Junk DealerJunk Dealer.jpg, Knights, MysticMystic.jpg, PillagePillage.jpg, RebuildRebuild.jpg, RogueRogue.jpg
$6 AltarAltar.jpg, Hunting GroundsHunting Grounds.jpg

  • The 10 Knights cards are all different. Only one card from the pile is visible and may be bought or gained at any time.
  • The Rats pile has 20 copies of the card instead of the usual 10.

Additional Materials

$0star MadmanMadman.jpg, MercenaryMercenary.jpg, SpoilsSpoils.jpg
$1 Shelters (6 each) - HovelHovel.jpg, NecropolisNecropolis.jpg, Overgrown EstateOvergrown Estate.jpg

  • Madman may be gained only through Hermit.
  • Mercenary may be gained only through Urchin.
  • Spoils may be gained only through Bandit Camp, Marauder, or Pillage.
  • The Spoils pile has 15 copies of the card instead of the usual 10.
  • Shelters are not used in every game, unless that game includes only Kingdom Cards from Dark Ages. Otherwise, their use should be determined based on the proportion of Dark Ages and non-Dark Ages cards in use.
  • When they are used, Shelters replace Estates in each player's starting deck so that the new starting deck consists of 7 Coppers, 1 Hovel, 1 Necropolis, and 1 Overgrown Estate. The rest of the Shelter cards are not included in the game in any way.

Flavor Text

Times have been hard. To save on money, you've moved out of your old castle, and into a luxurious ravine. You didn't like that castle anyway; it was always getting looted, and never at a reasonable hour. And if it wasn't barbarians it was the plague, or sometimes both would come at once, and there wouldn't be enough chairs. The ravine is great; you get lots of sun, and you can just drop garbage wherever you want. In your free time you've taken up begging. Begging is brilliant conceptually, but tricky in practice, since no-one has any money. You beg twigs from the villagers, and they beg them back, but no-one really seems to come out ahead. That's just how life is sometimes. You're quietly conquering people, minding your own business, when suddenly there's a plague, or barbarians, or everyone's illiterate, and it's all you can do to cling to some wreckage as the storm passes through. Still, you are sure that, as always, you will triumph over this adversity, or at least do slightly better than everyone else.


Impact of Dark Ages

Shelters

Shelters games cause many Kingdom cards to work differently, and effects the opening two turns as well.

  • Weakened cards:
    • AmbassadorAmbassador.jpg, since Shelters can't be returned to the supply, and JesterJester.jpg, since Shelters can't be gained from the supply
    • Cards that interact with Estates (or Victory cards in general), such as BaronBaron.jpg and Silk RoadSilk Road.jpg, aren't able to interact with them from the start
    • Cards that dislike variety, like Hunting PartyHunting Party.jpg and JourneymanJourneyman.jpg
  • Strengthened cards:
    • Cards that like variety, like HarvestHarvest.jpg and FairgroundsFairgrounds.jpg
    • Engines, in general, are strengthened due to the addition of a Village to your starting cards, and the fact that trashing your starting cards doesn't lose you 3 VP

Necropolis allows for more flexible openings, since there is a lower chance of two opening terminals clashing. Hovel makes for strategic decisions when purchasing Victory cards, especially Alt VP.

Ruins

The addition of Looters can lead to games where twice the normal amount of junk cards are being distributed, leading to longer games. CultistCultist.jpg can also distribute Ruins faster than any Curser due to its chaining. With both a Looter and a Curser present in a kingdom, the game slows down considerably, but three-pile endings are much easier to achieve, since the Ruins count as a supply pile.

Trashing

Given that it is one of the themes of the set, Dark Ages contains some of the strongest trashers in the game.

  • AltarAltar.jpg - expensive, but incredibly useful - turning bad cards into $5 Actions in the early game, and gaining Duchies in the late game
  • CountCount.jpg - the only card capable of trashing your entire hand, though after either discarding 2 cards or topdecking 1 card
  • CounterfeitCounterfeit.jpg - one of the best Copper trashers, especially since it continues to be useful after your Coppers are all gone
  • Death CartDeath Cart.jpg - it gives the highest non-variable +$ in the game
  • ForagerForager.jpg - it has to be built up to get the full benefit, but as a non-terminal trasher, it is typically a good opener
  • GraverobberGraverobber.jpg - one of only two cards that can gain from the trash, and the more effective of the two - it can also turn $5 Actions (like itself) into Provinces
  • HermitHermit.jpg - the best Curse defense behind only Watchtower, since it can trash cards directly from your discard pile, making it as though the Curser hadn't even been played
  • Junk DealerJunk Dealer.jpg - the Peddler variant trasher
  • KnightsKnights.jpg - while swingy, they can be quite devestating in large numbers
  • MercenaryMercenary.jpg - trashes very quickly while still giving a benefit and harming your opponent
  • ProcessionProcession.jpg - while chiefly best with other Dark Ages cards, it can be quite good in engines, especially on boards with Actions of every cost
  • RatsRats.jpg - useless on its own, it is a powerhouse when paired with trashers that care about cost (like Bishop) or card type (like Death Cart)
  • RebuildRebuild.jpg - perhaps the most powerful card in this set (or even all of Dominion), it forgoes both engine and big money to directly turn Estates and Duchies into Provinces
  • RogueRogue.jpg - a weak card, but the only one capable of stealing non-Treasure cards from other players

There are also several cards that benefit when trashed by other cards, or simply when another card is trashed.

  • CatacombsCatacombs.jpg - it gains a cheaper card when trashed, mirroring Border Village
  • CultistCultist.jpg - draws 3 cards when trashed
  • FeodumFeodum.jpg - can be trashed as part of a big money strategy, or as a means to get more Silvers to increase your point total from your other Feoda
  • FortressFortress.jpg - the only card that can never be removed from your deck - as it can be infinitely trashed, it does great with cost-caring trashers
  • Hunting GroundsHunting Grounds.jpg - gains a Duchy or three Estates when trashed
  • Market SquareMarket Square.jpg - the trashing analogue to Tunnel, it is very effective at gaining Gold in heavy trashing games, and then putting that Gold to use with its +Buy
  • RatsRats.jpg - though it does trash, its main role is to be trashed, similarly to Fortress
  • Overgrown EstateOvergrown Estate.jpg - draws a single card when trashed
  • Sir VanderSir Vander.jpg - gains a Gold when trashed
  • SquireSquire.jpg - can gain any Attack, no matter its cost, when trashed

Engines

Because of its minor theme of card combinations, many Dark Ages cards are well suited for engines.

Trivia

Secret History

When I showed Dominion off to RGG, I had five expansions. They were: Intrigue; Seaside and Hinterlands combined; Prosperity; "War;" and a large version of Alchemy with a touch of Cornucopia.



War was interaction-themed. Different ways for players to interact. Its cards included versions of SwindlerSwindler.jpg, Trade RouteTrade Route.jpg, TributeTribute.jpg, Council RoomCouncil Room.jpg, and SmugglersSmugglers.jpg. Council RoomCouncil Room.jpg kept the same name when I moved it to the main set; now you know how it got that name.

War was my favorite expansion, but the problem was, every expansion needed interactive non-attack cards. Every expansion needed a certain percentage of interactive cards, and attacks slow the game down, whereas non-attack interactive cards may not, and may even speed it up. So I had to spread them around. I made War more attack-themed and gave each other set at least one non-attack interactive card. Man do I need an acronym for that? Maybe I am done saying it.

During work on the main set, I briefly tried rearranging everything into 16-card expansions, and at that time I had an expansion that was top-of-your-deck themed. This theme was no good; it's fine for making some cards that play well with each other, but since I do that kind of thing in every set, the theme is invisible. So I broke that one up, and War ended up taking a few of those cards, thinking maybe it would end up with a mild top-of-your-deck subtheme, which fit with some of the attacks. In the end it only kept ArmoryArmory.jpg. Those of you noting that Dark Ages is the 7th expansion, and that in the Secret History for Dominion I say that AdventurerAdventurer.jpg came from the 7th expansion: that 7th expansion was the top-of-deck one. Ditto for Shanty TownShanty Town.jpg.

Around the time I was working in earnest on Cornucopia, I realized I had to decide what to do about the sizes of the last two large sets. The main set and Intrigue were standalones, and so 500 cards; Seaside and Prosperity had playmats and metal tokens. Hinterlands and Dark Ages did not have such things. Could they just be cheaper or what? I did not know yet if that was okay. However, I could dodge the issue for one of the sets by making it a standalone, and it seemed good to do another standalone anyway. I picked Hinterlands for that and worked to keep that set from getting too complex. And then what could Dark Ages have? And of course I realized that it could just have more cards; it could be 500 cards rather than 300. This would let me do some stuff that might not seem worth the space otherwise, like having a new kind of penalty card or cards that turned into other cards. So I expanded the expansion.

The original interactive theme was gone, and the attack theme was not going to cut it. Joe Dominion just doesn't want a heavy attack environment, that's what I think. And anyone who does can rig it themselves by including more attacks on the table. I figured attacks could still be a minor sub-theme, but slowly the cards that worked with attacks left, until Squire is all that remains (yes plus Beggar but that doesn't count). And as I mentioned, the top-of-deck theme was never going to amount to much.

I filled the void with an upgrading theme and a trash theme. Lots of cards turn cards into other cards, or themselves into other cards, and then a bunch of cards care if they're trashed, and a few care about the trash other ways. And of course the stuff I did with the extra 200 cards amounted to various minor themes too.

War was an unacceptable theme for Hans im Gluck, and I knew this basically from the day they took on Dominion. So way back when I knew I would be retheming the set. Dark Ages, there's a theme. It could be the poor to Prosperity's rich. Then when Alchemy became a small set, it looked like this set, though originally 4th, would be the last Dominion set, and that seemed cool too, going out with the Dark Ages (then Guilds got bumped to after it due to the basic cards product, which is also why Hinterlands wasn't a standalone).

Two cards from the original 2007 version of the set remain basically intact - AltarAltar.jpg and Band of MisfitsBand of Misfits.jpg. The KnightsKnights.jpg were in the original set in a different form, and there was a "+1 card +1 action" trasher which can claim to be an ancestor of RatsRats.jpg and Junk DealerJunk Dealer.jpg. The other 16 cards went elsewhere or didn't survive, being replaced by 31 new cards, some themselves from other sets but many new to this one. And of course I added those other cards, the Ruins and Shelters and things. The original war flavor and interaction theme are gone, replaced by the Dark Ages, upgrading, and the trash. The original set was my favorite and it turns out the final set is still my favorite. I liked the original for the interaction between players, and I like the final version for the interactions between cards. It is the crazy combos set.




Recommended Sets of 10

Dark Ages Only

  • Grim Parade: Armory, Band of Misfits, Catacombs, Cultist, Forager, Fortress, Knights, Market Square, Procession, Hunting Grounds
  • Playing Chess With Death: Bandit Camp, Graverobber, Junk Dealer, Mystic, Pillage, Rats, Sage, Scavenger, Storeroom, Vagrant

Dark Ages & Dominion

  • High and Low: Hermit, Hunting Grounds, Mystic, Poor House, Wandering Minstrel, Cellar, Moneylender, Throne Room, Witch, Workshop
  • Chivalry and Revelry: Altar, Knights, Rats, Scavenger, Squire, Festival, Gardens, Laboratory, Library, Remodel

Dark Ages & Intrigue

  • Prophecy: Armory, Ironmonger, Mystic, Rebuild, Vagrant, Baron, Conspirator, Great Hall, Nobles, Wishing Well
  • Invasion: Beggar, Marauder, Rogue, Squire, Urchin, Harem, Mining Village, Swindler, Torturer, Upgrade

Dark Ages & Seaside

  • Watery Graves: Count, Graverobber, Hermit, Scavenger, Urchin, Native Village, Pirate Ship, Salvager, Treasure Map, Treasury
  • Peasants: Death Cart, Feodum, Poor House, Urchin, Vagrant, Fishing Village, Haven, Island, Lookout, Warehouse

Dark Ages & Alchemy

  • Infestations: Armory, Cultist, Feodum, Market Square, Rats, Wandering Minstrel, Apprentice, Scrying Pool, Transmute, Vineyard
  • Lamentations: Beggar, Catacombs, Counterfeit, Forager, Ironmonger, Pillage, Apothecary, Golem, Herbalist, University

Dark Ages & Prosperity

  • One Man's Trash: Counterfeit, Forager, Graverobber, Market Square, Rogue, City, Grand Market, Monument, Talisman, Venture
  • Honor Among Thieves: Bandit Camp, Procession, Rebuild, Rogue, Squire, Forge, Hoard, Peddler, Quarry, Watchtower

Dark Ages & Cornucopia

  • Dark Carnival: Band of Misfits, Cultist, Fortress, Hermit, Junk Dealer, Knights, Fairgrounds, Hamlet, Horn of Plenty, Menagerie
  • To the Victor: Bandit Camp, Counterfeit, Death Cart, Marauder, Pillage, Sage, Harvest, Hunting Party, Remake, Tournament

Dark Ages & Hinterlands

  • Far From Home: Beggar, Count, Feodum, Marauder, Wandering Minstrel, Cartographer, Develop, Embassy, Fool's Gold, Haggler
  • Expeditions: Altar, Catacombs, Ironmonger, Poor House, Storeroom, Crossroads, Farmland, Highway, Spice Merchant, Tunnel

Dark Ages on DS.com and F.DS.com

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