Well, went with a Great Sage Awakened, Arco, Middle Ages, and the bottom map on the list.

Game settings: 9 Indies, 15 HoFame, Very difficult research, 7 Victory points required (1 per capital). There are 12 players on the map in total all random except us. AI's were set to Impossible.

Dominion: 6 candles, Magic Paths: 1F 3A 1W 3E 1S 2D 3N 1B. Lots of research (26 pts) to start which I realize now I forgot to set for the first turn!
Scales: 1 Turmoil, 3 Sloth (I always do this - I want to focus on mages not conventional troops), 0 Heat, 1 Growth, 2 Luck (like to get the national heroes for flavor) and 1 Magic.

First turn sent off scout and mounted commander to attack and retreat from two nearby provinces. Scout got precision heroic ability and I think I'll prophetize him as I found out that priestesses won't be able to cast Fanatacism anyways.

Purchased 2 Hypaspists (sp?) and 1 Peltast, and hired Urgek Beast Brother for 33 gold. Cheap fodder.

2nd turn 2 Hypaspists and 1 Peltast, attempting to hire Fernando's Footmen.

I notice we get a LOT of gold in Dom 3 compared to Dom 2! Great I will get a 2nd castle ASAP and start buying more priestesses.