Shelter

Additional rules

The rules for playing with Shelters are described in the Dominion: Dark Ages rulebook and are reproduced here.

Preparation

• If only Kingdom cards from Dark Ages are being used this game, the Shelter cards replace starting Estates - each player's starting deck is seven Coppers, a Hovel, a Necropolis, and an Overgrown Estate.
• If a mix of Kingdom cards from Dark Ages and other sets is being used, then the use of Shelters should be determined randomly, based on the proportion of Dark Ages cards in use. For example, choose a random Kingdom card being used - such as the last card dealt from the Randomizer deck - and if it is from Dark Ages, use Shelters in place of starting Estates.
• Do not use the same card to choose whether or not to use Shelters as you use to choose whether or not to use Platinum and Colony (from Prosperity).
• Using Shelters does not change the Estate Supply pile; it still contains 8 Estates for 2 players and 12 Estates for 3 or more players.

FAQ

Other Rules clarifications

• When a Shelter is revealed when playing Ambassador, it is not returned to the Supply (since it is not in the Supply) and opponents do not gain a copy of it.

Trivia

Secret History

Shelters: Tom Lehmann suggested replacing starting Estates with something else, to make the environment feel more Dark Ages-y. I thought this was a great idea. Ruins obv. doesn't work, because some people would make out, unless we picked specific ones. And Curse isn't very interesting. But I could just make up three new cards, which is what I did. Necropolis shakes up early turns, since you can stomach more in the way of terminal actions; Overgrown Estate gives you a little prize if you crack it open eventually; and Hovel tempts you into buying a victory card when you might not have.

Hovel is the only one that changed. Originally it was an action you could trash by discarding your hand. It turned out that trashing it turn 1-2 usually seemed like the correct play, even if you drew it with four Coppers. So that was no good. Hovel as printed has nice flavor going for it; you move out of your old Hovel and into a nice Duchy.

—Donald X. Vaccarino, from the Secret History of Dark Ages cards