I've read a few articles but this is my first time posting one, hence the simplicity.
Anyways, I found a very viable Dark Ages combo while playing: Hermit / Feodum.
It works perfectly with a 4 / 3 start, is a great way to obtain alt-vp victory, and even facilitates for buying provinces as much as a JoaT deck does.
Pros
-Essentially a better version of JoaT
-Counters Curses and Ruins
-Counters trashing attacks such as Knights or Saboteur
-Allows for Provinces alongside its primary alt-vp gain
Cons
-Requires keeping track of approximately how many of each card you have
-Doesn't counter discard attacks such as Militia or Margrave
-Large deck size can flood out any other actions you buy
-If other player/s go for this combo, it is weakened.
Basics
Basically it works like this: First two buys are Hermit and Feodum. The Hermit can then either be used to find and trash your starting estates, an overgrown estate for +1, or the Feodum for +3 Silvers, depending on which cards are in your hand/discard pile. You can then gain and usually buy another Hermit. You DO want to buy something however, because Madmen are only viable in this deck once you have multiple Hermits or other actions.
From then on, you want to trash all of your estates, trash any curses you acquire, then trash Feodums until there are 4* (for 2p. It's 7 for 4p) Feodums left in your deck/in pile that you can guarantee you will be able to buy.
As for gaining from Hermit, you want to gain Hermits only when you have a lower than 1:10 Hermit to other card ratio; otherwise gain Silvers.
As for buying, prioritize: Feodum (if you have >24 silvers), Province, Feodum, Silver, Hermit.
Only no-buy for a Madman when you know you have at least 3 Hermits.
You can end the game though either killing the Feodum / Silver / Hermit piles or through Provinces.
Theorycrafting Behind the Strategy
There are many benefits that come with this combo (sharing two with JoaT):
1. Curses can be trashed easily (even more easily than with JoaT) because of the ability to seek them out in both your hand and your discard pile.
2. You are constantly gaining Silvers from Hermits, both from trashing Feodums and from the gaining part of Hermit (once again, a more effective version of JoaT's Silver gain).
3. When you are done trashing Feodums, you can liquidate your Hermits into Madmen, allowing for some big hands.
4. Any cards that trash your cards will either hit Silvers or Feodums (which you want to trash)
*In regards to the optimal number of Feodums to have at which to stop trashing them, I was too lazy to use actual math to figure it out, so instead I made a spreadsheet with the Feodums increasing by one and then decreasing by one; adding three Silver for every Feodum subtracted. It peaked at both 4 and 5 Feodums, and obviously it is more useful to have three Silvers than one Feodum, so that is why it is 4 (for 2p).
General Tips
-The hardest thing about this strategy is that you must keep track of your ever fluctuating number of Feodums as well as your Silvers and Hermits. The easiest thing I found to do was just keep track of how many times I used Hermit to gain Silvers, and how many times I bought Silvers. Once you have that down, you can figure out how many Feodums you have by how many are in the pile/trash (unless your opponent has bought one). You can also figure out how many Silvers you gained from trashing Feodums by counting the Feodums in the trash and multiplying by three.
Other Combos
There are probably a lot, here are two I can think of that are the strongest:
Gardens - By the end of the game, you will have at least 40 cards
Cards with +Draw - If you want to transition into an engine, you can buy cards with +Draw and convert your Hermits into Madmen (although keep in mind that you will lose your Madmen after using them)
I'll add more if any are suggested, because there obviously are more
So that's my first guide! Hopefully it's helpful. If you have any suggestions/criticisms please let me know.
