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[dondon151]

Played 3 games with Young Nick today and happened upon Storeroom/Quarry as a moderately strong combo. Storeroom gives +buy and cycling and helps with matching multiple Quarries in hand.

Obviously Storeroom on its own is not a payload (unlike e.g., Grand Market) and this needs to have strong Actions in the kingdom in order to itself be strong. The kingdom that we played had Nobles, Bandit Camp, and Sage and it was rather early when I began picking up 2x Nobles + Bandit Camp or Plat + Nobles + Sage turns and such. Storeroom obviously also synergizes directly with the engine if there is a surplus of actions.

Speaking of Grand Market, Storeroom finding a Quarry automatically yields a Grand Market.

[jaybeez]

I had my first really good session with Dark Ages on Sunday (all 4P), I'd played with it a little before that but only a couple games.  I don't really have a handle on any of the cards yet, but I do know I like Ironmonger a lot.  The thing that really jumped out at me about Dark Ages is how much Shelters change the game.  Ambassador and Hunting Party become far less powerful, Baron becomes almost useless, Upgrade and especially Remake are weaker unless there's a really good $2 you want, Swindler gets weaker, Menagerie gets yet better as do Chapel and Steward, and all good trashing really.  Others I'm not sure of (Masquerade?  Is Silk Road weaker, and if so how much?  How much better does Fairgrounds get, I mean is it worth it to keep the Shelters to boost the Fairgrounds?  Great Hall gets better as an opener because of Hovel, but how does Hovel affect the other hybrid Victory cards?)

I'm impressed with how much Shelters change the strategic landscape, and how enjoyable and interesting those changes are.  I'm looking forward to playing with them more.  Bravo, Donald.

[Beyond Awesome]

Played 3 games with Young Nick today and happened upon Storeroom/Quarry as a moderately strong combo. Storeroom gives +buy and cycling and helps with matching multiple Quarries in hand.

Obviously Storeroom on its own is not a payload (unlike e.g., Grand Market) and this needs to have strong Actions in the kingdom in order to itself be strong. The kingdom that we played had Nobles, Bandit Camp, and Sage and it was rather early when I began picking up 2x Nobles + Bandit Camp or Plat + Nobles + Sage turns and such. Storeroom obviously also synergizes directly with the engine if there is a surplus of actions.

Speaking of Grand Market, Storeroom finding a Quarry automatically yields a Grand Market.

Storeroom has a lot of potential. It is also great in alternate VP decks such as Duke, SR, and Gardens.

[aaron0013]

My favorite DA cards so far:  Counterfeit, Rats, Fortress, Junk Dealer, and WHARF!!!. oh right.

[brokoli]

So here are my thoughts :

Altar : I underrated this card so much... it's really great for engines, where there are a lot of $5. The trashing is often good, but sometimes a penalty. Note that altar do not have the "if you do" clause, so you'll sometimes reveal a hand of nothing and gain a free $5 card.

Armory : Better than I expected. I like the tactic component here (gain the card you'll need for now or for the next turn...

Band of misfits : Rather weak, seriously. But sometimes can really shine (remodel, village-draw, etc). Otherwise very interesting card.

Bandit camp : It seems very powerful to me, I lost a game where my opponent only bought bandit camps and money, that's disappointing.

Beggar : I love copper engines and I think the game need more defenses to attack. So obviously beggar is a very cool and interesting card.

Catacombs : I'm not a huge fan of this card. It's not bad, but not very innovative compared to other dark ages cards. The on-trash effect is weird and is infrequently used. But we need terminal draw in all sets...

Count : Not so difficult to understand, all effects synergize. The trashing ability is less powerful than I thought first. Otherwise another powerful and interesting card.

Counterfeit : Very very strong, for engines as well as Big money games. I like the versatility and the choices it offers.

Cultist : Great attack card, not as boring as witch/mountebank/goons/etc. And the on-trash effect make it so interesting !

Death cart : Swingy, but a terminal $5, even one shot, is strong. Ruins slow the deck cycling though.

Feodum : I love this one. A real headache because we are always faced with the choice to trash or not a feodum (usually it depends on the kingdom of course).

Forager : Nothing special to say, very good trasher overall.

Fortress : It's funny to use it as a target for all trashers when you got rid of all your coppers and estates. Not the best $4 village, but a very fun one.

Graverobber : Beside the combo with treasury, from the few games I played with graverobber it wasn't very strong. But I guess it is great in engines with villages.

Hermit / Madman : One of my favourite of the set, but it seems to be a trap very often. The trashing ability is very weak (except in cursing games, where it's almost as good as Jack). The mandatory gain can be a flaw... and most importantly the way to gain madman is problematic : early it's easy, but madman won't be great with so few good cards. Later it will be pretty difficult to gain the madman (but this time it will be great). Also, against handsize reducers madman is really bad.

Hunting grounds : Very strong as I thought. But like catacombs I'm disappointed that the on-trash effect is not very often useful.

Ironmonger : The randomness make it, like Tribute, risky. However, I think Ironmonger is more often controllable, and it's interesting to use instead of village when you need +2 actions.

Junk dealer : Simple and solid. I'm almost surprised to see such a simple card in an expansion like Dark Ages ^^

Knights : For the time being, my favourite card(s) of the set. I have a particular love for Molly and Josephine. I really like how sometimes they prevent mirror matches.

Marauder : Sea Hag is better.

Market Square : Usually weak, because the effects anti-synergize. But as a source of +buy market square is nice.

Mystic : An average $5 cards, now you can do all the things you always wanted to do with wishing well.

Pillage : I don't know if this is very strong. The attack is brutal but you get no direct profit from it, two spoils are not so good...

Poor house : Sometimes incredibly powerful, other times useless. I like the $1 cost, especially when upgrade is in the kingdom ! ^^

Procession : Very interesting and tricky card. I really like it !

Rats : A "double-edged" card, and I love how it's thematic. One of my fav of the set too.

Rogue : I love this one, because you are forced to do one of the 2 things... and if you don't gain that workshop from the trash, you can't attack your opponent anymore. Otherwise rogue is not so bad !

Sage : Great in engines with no trashing, and in opening. But very frustrating when you hit a province (and it happens very often).

Scavenger : Nice scheme-chancellor, a solid $4.

Squire : At first, I thought it was the best $2 of the game. Now, I think it's near to the worst (ok I exaggerate a bit) : the lack of +card is terrible and usually you don't need terminal +2 buy or terminal silver-gainer. I never used the on-trash effect though.

Storeroom : Honestly I think it's an excellent $3, probably a little below the top 10. It's a great card for deck cycling and combos.

Urchin / Mercenary : It's very easy to gain the mercenary, which is quite strong, but get progressively worse later during the game... like Hermit, not alxays indispensable.

Vagrant : Very good $2. Better than scout !

Wandering minstrel : One of the worst $4 village, I think (still pretty close). It's quite insignificant in games with trashing, and otherwise you don't really want to discard your treasures.

My favourites are Knights, Rats, Feodum, Hermit and Rogue. 

[Jimmmmm]

Market Square : Usually weak, because the effects anti-synergize. But as a source of +buy market square is nice.

I wouldn't say the effect anti-synergize. I mean, obviously you have to choose one or the other at any given time, but in a slim deck with lots of Gold, +buys are great. I've only played one game with them both, but I thought Chapel/MS was a great opening.

[LastFootnote]

No opinions about Rebuild, brokoli?

[Voltgloss]

The presence of Shelters brings Fairgrounds up to a potential 8 VP in an otherwise completely standard kingdom.  (10 Kingdom cards, Cop/Sil/Gold, Est/Duc/Prov, 3 Shelters, and Curse = 20 different cards.)  If the cards available can even remotely support that kind of "one of everything" approach, 8 VP for $6 is incredibly powerful and makes for some very fun games.

[aaron0013]

I think Count is excellent at trashing.  I once trashed 2 Shelters and about 4 Coppers in one turn with it.  Yes, it does cost $5, but if you can get it soon enough, you will find yourself way ahead of the others in trashing.

[flies]

The presence of Shelters brings Fairgrounds up to a potential 8 VP in an otherwise completely standard kingdom.  (10 Kingdom cards, Cop/Sil/Gold, Est/Duc/Prov, 3 Shelters, and Curse = 20 different cards.)  If the cards available can even remotely support that kind of "one of everything" approach, 8 VP for $6 is incredibly powerful and makes for some very fun games.

My experience is that Fairgrounds (like menagerie) is way better with shelters, but 20 different cards is really hard to swing, even with knights.  I'd guess that if you went for 20 cards and I went for 15, I'd get more FG than you.  If you're playing with shelters and Black Market then maybe, but I still think you're better off aiming for 15.

[flies]

Regarding Rogue, I think it's generally quite weak in 2P.  Without strong trashing, it's likely to miss on the attack often - less so later in the game. The attack is considerably weaker than Saboteur (won't hit provinces/plats etc, Sab keeps digging till it finds s/t) and Sab is known to be weak.  Often there's something in the trash that you don't want (e.g. silver, rats, curser/looter after curses/ruins are gone), and you must gain it, which is quite a pain. 

On the other hand, I've had games where I draw my whole deck every turn, play a pillage, then rogue it back into my deck for next turn.  Pretty hard to come back from a pillage every turn.

I will have another look at it - I haven't tried hitting my opponent hard with it.  In any case, it's going to be most useful when you and your opponent(s) are going for engines.  In BM, Rogue is a terminal silver+slow thief, which is terrible.

[brokoli]

I disagree.
Sometimes there is something in the trash you trashed yourself (remodeled gold, etc).
And the terminal silver is still pretty good, compared to Sab/Thief.

And yeah, I think rogue is really good against engines.

[Jimmmmm]

The presence of Shelters brings Fairgrounds up to a potential 8 VP in an otherwise completely standard kingdom.  (10 Kingdom cards, Cop/Sil/Gold, Est/Duc/Prov, 3 Shelters, and Curse = 20 different cards.)  If the cards available can even remotely support that kind of "one of everything" approach, 8 VP for $6 is incredibly powerful and makes for some very fun games.

My experience is that Fairgrounds (like menagerie) is way better with shelters, but 20 different cards is really hard to swing, even with knights.  I'd guess that if you went for 20 cards and I went for 15, I'd get more FG than you.  If you're playing with shelters and Black Market then maybe, but I still think you're better off aiming for 15.

I suppose the good thing about Fairgrounds is that you can often empty the pile and then focus on getting your unique card count up where you want it.

[Beyond Awesome]

I don't agree with you brokoli on Wandering Minstrel being one of the worst $4 Villages in the game. I've built some nasty engines with that card. It allows you to build engines in cursing games and games without trashing, and it cost one less than Cartographer and gives +actions.

Also, I have to disagree with your thoughts on Count not being a good trasher. If you get it early enough, you will often trash your hand twice. Some games just once, but getting rid of three cards is still strong in the early game. I find Count to be a solid and strong card.

[aaron0013]

I believe WM is my new favorite village.  It is a huge asset to engines.  Hamlet is pretty awesome though...

[zahlman]

I kinda want to play KC->Storeroom, line up a bunch of identical cards, and yell "Yahtzee!".

[brokoli]

No opinions about Rebuild, brokoli?

Haha, I wanted to see if anyone would notice.
I have no opinion right now.

Also, I have to disagree with your thoughts on Count not being a good trasher. If you get it early enough, you will often trash your hand twice. Some games just once, but getting rid of three cards is still strong in the early game. I find Count to be a solid and strong card.

I didn't say it's a bad trasher, but he is not going to replace chapel or remake, you only trash 2-3 cards in a turn...
But Count can be awesome with tactician (like forge)

[PitzerMike]

Yesterday I played a RL game with Cultist and I opened Sage / Horsetrader.
This is a real power combo and was a pretty one sided affair.
Just make sure you only add Cultists and Sages early on and the ruins will be gone in no time.
We had Hamlet on the board too which helped play "disconnected" Cultists and didn't interfere with Sage.

In another game I've played recently, Marauder looked like one of the best Duke enablers in the whole game. Open Marauder / Silver and you can pretty much skip the economy buildup phase and go directly into the Duchies.3$->Silver, 4$-> another Marauder (up to 4 or even 5) 5$+-> Duchy or Duke. Adding coppers also seems like a good idea. All the ruins slowed my Provincing opponent down so much that I could easily grab all Duchies and Dukes and even add Gardens later on just for the fun of it.

[Lille]

The presence of Shelters brings Fairgrounds up to a potential 8 VP in an otherwise completely standard kingdom.  (10 Kingdom cards, Cop/Sil/Gold, Est/Duc/Prov, 3 Shelters, and Curse = 20 different cards.)  If the cards available can even remotely support that kind of "one of everything" approach, 8 VP for $6 is incredibly powerful and makes for some very fun games.

My experience is that Fairgrounds (like menagerie) is way better with shelters, but 20 different cards is really hard to swing, even with knights.  I'd guess that if you went for 20 cards and I went for 15, I'd get more FG than you.  If you're playing with shelters and Black Market then maybe, but I still think you're better off aiming for 15.

I suppose the good thing about Fairgrounds is that you can often empty the pile and then focus on getting your unique card count up where you want it.

Fairgrounds gets the best, if a looter is in the kingdom. I played it IRL once and reached 22 different cards, thanks to my opponents cultists.

[RD]

Fairgrounds/Knights makes for some crazy games; extra variety but you can't count on keeping it. I'm tempted to think it's not reliable enough to assume you'll wind up with a ton of variety in the end; but it doesn't matter, you can't let your opponent get all the Knights uncontested.