The only card that may be bought or gained or chosen from one of these piles is the card on top. These piles should be shuffled before each game, as explained under Preparation.

Dark Ages has two piles of cards that have a variety of cards in them: the Ruins pile has a mix of five different Ruins, and the Knights pile has ten different Knights.

Shelters have no corresponding Supply pile they can never be bought, and Ambassador (from Seaside) cannot return one anywhere. These cards replace starting Estates in some games, as described under Preparation.

Dark Ages includes three Shelters - Hovel, Necropolis, and Overgrown Estate.

: Hovel, Necropolis, Overgrown Estate.

: Abandoned Mine, Ruined Library, Ruined Market, Ruined Village, Survivors.

: Band of Misfits, Bandit Camp, Catacombs, Count, Counterfeit, Cultist, Graverobber, Junk Dealer, Knights, Mystic, Pillage, Rebuild, Rogue.

: Armory, Death Cart, Feodum, Fortress, Ironmonger, Marauder, Procession, Rats, Scavenger, Wandering Minstrel.

: Forager, Hermit, Market Square, Sage, Storeroom, Urchin.

The 10 cards in the Knights pile are unique.

Age of empires dark age