[Cohen]

So on who's got a Watchtower will be able to bring his retreating mages to safety, meanwhile who's picked a castle has his retreating mages trapped inside ... not fair.
I'd suggest you can't script any mages that excedes the limitations. The tactical AI will start to buff them with shields, and all other stuff, then start spamming crap spells.

I'd change too the "retreat" option of the site searching mages. Keep in mind in a such game, Provincial Defence could be worth. Indeed some nations get a mage too in Provincial Defence (for 20 men).
I'd apply for site searching mages, and all mages outside/inside castle without their 25 troops retinue, the rule of not being scripted.

Those cases are purely defensive however, in attack you're forced to the 25:1 ratio.

I'd suggest an exception for Mercenary mages, as they could be considered always active. They're avaiable for all, and this could enhance their value. Don't forget if they retreat you'll lose them. So I'd believe this could be fair.

To substitute the uber-micro needed for the "all retreat", according to my rule, we can add an string to the scripted mages, to check better if someone tries to trick the house rule, like "***" (three asterisks) at the end of the mage name, to identify him as scripted. (We will notice so on an F2-A1 mage scripted doing something like Air, Summon Phoenix Power, Fireball, Fireball, Fireball ... meanwhile an AI lead F2-A1 mage casting Air Shield, Fire Shield, Charged Body, Air, some buffs, then spamming spectral warriors or something like =P )