The kingdom of Arcoscephale is yet to be founded and in its place is a loose collection of city states. Bronze is more common than iron and hoplites have yet to see the light of day. Instead, myrmidons and chariots compose the core of the armies. In this time, slaves are commonly used and most free men have plenty of time to spend on fine arts and good living. Philosophers gather in the cities to discuss esoteric truths and engineers manufacture clever contraptions for civil or military use. At the heart of Arcoscephale lies Mount Cephalos, abode of the Awakening God. At the foot of the mountain is a great temple where sacred Pegasus Riders are trained. Icarids, men with mechanical wings, are also used in warfare. The philosophers are better at magical research in a slothful Dominion.

"Arcoscephale is together with Pythium the first nation conceived in the creation of Dominions. After having played GMT's Great Battles of Alexander and S.P.Q.R. I got fascinated by ancient warfare, and the hoplites were among the first units to appear in Dominions. At first the two nations were one, with a troop rooster of ancient units, while Man and later on Ulm had troop roosters with a more medieval touch. Soon, however, it became clear that Pythium and Arcoscephale should be two distinct nations. Arcoscephale is heavily influenced by ancient Greek city states and Hellas. The Golden Age is influenced by the mythical past and the archaic age. Later ages boast Hellenic and Mesopotamian influences: elephants, mysteries and Chaldean astrologers." -Illwinter

If you are considering picking this nation to play, what should you know?

Magic Access	Alt. Access	Unit Summary	Core Abilities	Buildings
4 (rare 5) 3 (rare 4) 2 2 2 (rare 3) 2 1	Hero 1113 Summons 11 (req. 2 & GoR) 3 (req. 4) 121 (req. 3 & GoR)	Heavy Infantry Chariots Flying infantry Sacred Pegasus Riders Engineers	Formation Fighter Mason Old Age Healer	Standard Forts ( Can be upgraded into Castles by Engineers) Labs cost 250

GoR: Gift of Reason or Divine Name make a unit into a commander, rarely with magic paths.
Capitol Gems: 222

Scry: Arcoscephale will scry on all provinces under its dominion. This scrying is very accurate and will also reveal enemy units that are using the glamour ability to hide. The information gained from this will be available to disciple players as well.

Engineers can upgrade Forts into Castles. But, while it does increase other stats such as Recruitment Point Percentage, it does not increase Commander Points. This means the build cost of 600 might not be worth it.

• Stymphalian Wings (Construction 7)
  4 and 20
  Commentary here.

Conjuration, Alteration, and Evocation 5 are important.

Bind Scorpion Beast (Conj. 3) 11 and 2 summons a unit with decent protection and hit-points, if in a pinch in the early game.
Summon Earthpower (Conj. 3) 2 can give the entire Communion Reinvigoration.
Strength of Gaia (Conj. 4)
EA Arco has access to every single Elemental type.
Howl (Conj. 5) 3 and 3, should be spammed out.

Gifts from Heaven (Evo. 5) 31 is extremely useful for EA Arco. If fighting a Flying nation, not as useful because of the dangers of friendly fire.

EA Arcoscephale has good troops that take buffs well, especially if the troops have Formation Fighter.

Stone Skin (Alt. 4) 2
Group Ironskin (Alt. 6) 3
Wooden Warriors (Alt. 6) 3 and 1 can be helpful.
Giant Warriors (Alt. 6) 3 and 1 can also be helpful.
Marble Warriors (Alt. 7) 3 and 1

Maws of the Earth (Alt. 5) 3 and 1
Control (Alt. 6) 3 and 1

Foul Vapors (Ench. 6) 14 and 2

Communion Slave (Thau. 1) 1 and Communion Master (Thau. 1) 1 With Mystics all having Astral, it's easy to build large Communions.
Gift of Reason (Thau. 5) 4 Not a high priority, but eventually useful for making Kers and Lampads into mages.

This guide supplements the general Magic Access guide.

EA Arcoscephale has the right paths and crosspaths for most of the major Multi-path boosters, (except Robe of the Magi,) but the levels of its mages are so low it makes it difficult to get any of them.

Highest starting: 2 Mystic (1 in 8)
A difficult and expensive climb.
See Magic Access for path increase guide.

Skull of Fire
Empower any Fire mage in Death. Cheaper than empowering multiple Fire mages.

The Staff from the Sun Unique
12 Mystic (1 in 8) +
Requires Unique Astral boosters.

The Mystic can have the right crosspaths for the unique The Forbidden Light, but getting a 12 Mystic up to the required 55 is impractical.

Highest starting: 3 Oreiad (1 in 4)
Requires an expensive level of empowerment to get to 4 and the first Air booster.
See Magic Access for path increase guide.

Tome of High Power Unique
11 Mage Engineer (1 in 5) +
Remember, getting the Air booster requires an expensive level of empowerment.

Highest starting: 2 Mystic (1 in 8)
See Magic Access for path increase guide.

Contact Naiad
13 Oreiad (1 in 4) +
Then give the Naiad the boosters, which brings it to 5.

Trident from Beyond Unique
12 Mystic (1 in 8) +

Orb of Atlantis Unique
11 Mystic (4 in 16), Mage Engineer (1 in 5), Oreiad (1 in 4) +
The third booster needs to be either the unique Orb of Elemental Water or the unique Trident from Beyond. Or, a 30 empowerment can be used.

Highest starting: 2 Mystic (1 in 8), Mage Engineer (1 in 5), Oreiad (1 in 4)
The difficult part in climbing Earth is the second Earth booster for the Troll King. There are two options, both uniques, the Orb of Elemental Earth or The Tome of Gaia. Without at least one, the Troll King needs to be empowered to 4, which costs 60.
See Magic Access for path increase guide.

Tome of Gaia Unique
23 Oreiad (1 in 4)

Highest starting: 2 Mystic (1 in 4)
See Magic Access for path increase guide.

Coin of Meteoritic Iron
12 Mystic (1 in 8) + Earth Boots
The Coin of Meteoritic Iron is necessary for getting the 2 Mystic to the first Astral booster.

Golem Construction
12 Mystic (1 in 8) +
Golem with Coin of Meteoritic Iron and Starshine Skullcap bring it to 4.

Tome of High Power Unique
11 Mage Engineer (1 in 5) +
Remember, getting the Air booster requires an expensive level of empowerment.

No national access.

Contact Forest Troll Tribe
Oreiad
Troll Shaman has 1.

Highest starting: 4 Oreiad (1 in 4)
See Magic Access for path increase guide.

Tome of Gaia Unique
23 Oreiad (1 in 4)

The Copper Arm
11 Mystic (1 in 4), Mage Engineer (1 in 5) +
With The Copper Arm, the Oreiad can hold both the Thistle Mace and Treelord's Staff at the same time.

No national access.

Troll King's Court
2 Mystic (1 in 8), Mage Engineer (1 in 5), Oreiad (1 in 4) +
Troll King has 1.

Forest Troll Tribe
3 Oreiad
Troll Shaman has a one in four chance of 1.

No national access.

Awaken Treelord Limited Amount, Stationary
4 Oreiad (1 in 4) +
One in three chance of Treelord, who has 1.

Ker Mage
1) Bind Keres with 2 (Not available natively.)
2) Gift of Reason with 4 Oreiad (1 in 4)
The new commander Ker has 1. Kers are units, that, when made into commanders, have magic paths.

It's F'n Windy
Choose an imprisoned pretender, great scales, and a decent bless for Wind Riders. Usually defense focused bless to help the Armored Pegasus. Great scales allow recruiting other expensive troops and ton of mystics. Research up early. Use Wind Riders and Wind Lords for excellent expansion. Early game, a big power spike because of Wind Riders and mid game, a power spike because of Mystics and Gifts from Heaven. Late game, humans are weak to battlefield wipes, but hopefully the research advantage will compensate for that. Seduction in the later mid-game to deal with certain problems.

Consider using:
Blood Surge
Defense x 5

Conj. 3
Evo. 5
Conj. 5
Alt. 7
Ench. 6
Con. 5
Thaum. 5

If fighting a Flying nation, postpone Evo. 5 and prioritze Conj. 5 for Howl.

Scales Mages
Choose a dormant pretender who is good at research, great scales and a weak bless. This sacrifices amazing expansion (20 provinces by Turn 12), for decent expansion (14 provinces by Turn 12). But, it increases research speed, accelerating into the mid-game, hopefully getting Gifts from Heaven halfway through the first war. Use Cardaces to hold enemy troops while Mystics spam Gifts from Heaven. This strategy isn't as good as the primary strategy, but is still viable. (Probably a more viable strategy with other EA nations that have better troops.)

Research Path is the same as "It's F'n Windy."

Thugopolis
Choose an Awake pretender, trash scales, and a strong bless. Through the game, using some Philosophers and some Oreiads is probably worthwhile, unlike in the other strategies. Send expansion parties of two Wind Lords, two Wind Riders. Just like with the first strategy, expansion will probably go really well. Get Con. 3 and Alt 3. early to equip and point-buff the Wind Lords. Point buffing the Wind Lords with Ethereal, Quickness, Temper Flesh, etc. can make them pretty tanky. Engineers and Peltasts can be used to siege down forts. Still not as effective as the primary strategy, but viable and also fun. See EA Arco Thug Expansion for an example of thug expansion.

Consider using:
Blood Surge
Stygian Flesh
And other strong blesses.

Con. 3
Alt. 3
Then follow the same path as "It's F'n Windy", occasionally increasing Construction and Alteration in order to keep up with equipping and point buffing thugs.

EA Arcoscephale can be countered with small groups of mages with elite bodyguards. Wind Riders are hard to buff and have difficulty with elites. Ironically, flying troops are quite good against EA Arco as they make it difficult for Mystics to cast Gifts from Heaven, the Mystics’ bread-and-butter.

EA Arco’s biggest weakness overall is their reliance on human mages. The mages need forts and time for research, and are susceptible to battlefield clears.

Dominions 6: EA Arcoscephale Pre-game - Babel Builder
Dominions 6 - EA Arcoscephale - National Overview - Top Guides

Thanks to Top Guides for commentary.

Nations
Early Ages	Arcoscephale • Ermor • Ulm • Pyrène, • Marverni • Sauromatia • T'ien Ch'i • Machaka • Mictlan • Abysia • Caelum • C'tis • Pangaea • Agartha • Tir na n'Og • Fomoria • Vanheim • Helheim • Niefelheim • Muspelheim • Rus • Kailasa • Lanka • Yomi • Hinnom • Ur • Berytos • Xibalba • Mekone • Ubar • Atlantis • R'lyeh • Pelagia • Oceania • Therodos
Middle Ages	Arcoscephale • Ermor • Sceleria • Pythium • Man • Eriu • Ulm • Pyrène • Marignon • Mictlan • T'ien Ch'i • Machaka • Agartha • Abysia • Caelum • C'tis • Pangaea • Asphodel • Vanheim • Jotunheim • Nidavangr • Vanarus • Bandar Log • Shinuyama • Ashdod • Uruk • Nazca • Xibalba • Phlegra • Phaeacia • Ind • Na'ba • Atlantis • R'lyeh • Pelagia • Oceania • Ys
Late Ages	Arcoscephale • Pythium • Lemuria • Man • Ulm • Marignon • Mictlan • T'ien Ch'i • Jomon • Agartha • Abysia • Caelum • C'tis • Pangaea • Midgård • Utgård • Bogarus • Patala • Gath • Ragha • Xibalba • Phlegra • Vaettiheim • Feminie • Piconye • Andramania • Pyrène • Atlantis • R'lyeh • Erytheia