Nomad

Nomad is a style of Skirmish that denotes the period before the Dark and Discovery Age in Age of Empires II and III. In both games, players do not begin with any buildings and need to build a Town Center before they can advance technologically.

Age of Empires II
In Age of Empires II, players begin with 3 Villagers and a Scout Cavalry scattered about the map.

Tactics
Scout Cavalry are particularly deadly in the beginning of the game. If they manage to hunt down just one villager, they will have destroyed what amounts to one third of the opponent's economy. Therefore, villagers on both sides should seek to group together as quickly as possible to avoid an early loss. Ideally, when picking where to build their Town Center, players should vie for a settlement that includes an abundance of every resource, but Food and Wood are top priorities since without them the player cannot build houses or train villagers.

In multiplayer, teams can try to unite their villagers early in the game in an attempt to quickly destroy their opposing player's forces. However, such a tactic is risky at best since if this tactic to fail, the team would be at a severe economic disadvantage. Teams may also build their bases very close to each other (or even together), trading availability of resources for safety.

Age of Empires III
In Age of Empires III you start of with an Explorer and a Covered Wagon (Europeans) / Town Travois (Native Americans) / Town Rickshaw (Asians) to build a Town Center for free. You get villagers and resource crates when the town center is built.