Seems I was ninja'd.
You could, but it wouldn't so much combine the strengths of the two plans as it hits you with both the weaknesses. You're exposed to the risks of counterspelling and Asarnil is distracted by chasing mages. And I'd actually have to do some research to try to figure out what would happen if you were trying to dispel a spell while the caster was demolished by a dragon.
What in case of more than one spellcaster though?
This is you deciding what the goal of the siege is. There's no hidden details, there's no technicalities - it's just you making a statement of purpose. The end result of the campaign will be measured against the stated purpose of this siege and judged accordingly.
Keep in mind that we have Dwarfs with us. If we loudly proclaim we are going to flatten the mountain they are going to hold us to it. Especially if we put them in charge. And Mathilde might not know that, so she may phrase it that way even if OOC we only wanted to decapitate and deface the mountain.
And on a related note, there's a marked tendency I've noticed for a QM to present an either-or decision and for a significant portion of the readers to immediately grasp for the flimsiest justification for how they can have their cake and eat it too. And it's really starting to bother me.
Sorry. In this case I didn't know that counterspelling a distant enemy could go so wrong for the counterspeller. I thought it was using a generic spell to disrupt the caster directly, thus dumping the Dhar backfire primarily on him.
More generally, you usually tell us that we don't need to micromanage because Mathilde is competent enough to do the obvious stuff herself. In this case I didn't know if counterspelling whenever she doesn't have anything better to do despite artillery/dragon already being on the job would be that obvious thing. Because if I'm not wrong then the spell usually has already been fired before the artillery is even turned towards that target or a dragon redirected.
After all isn't that exactly what happened in Drakenhof City? A necromancer cast something and two casters tried to counterspell, one being faster than the other. Artillery then turned the full brunt against the necromancer, but they can't very well shoot a magic bolt out of the sky.
So necromancer casts, we try to counterspell, and, fail or no, the artillery or dragon (depending on the vote) fries the necromancer seemed like the logical thing to do. After all they won't fire at him before he's cast his thing since they don't feel him doing it in the first place. And if we tell them when we feel it he'll already have cast it or we've already finished counterspelling.
But I guess I'm picturing the whole thing very wrong and actually in Warhammer battlefield spells take so long and are so flashy that you can counter by attacking with artillery before the spell has finished taking effect?
On an even more general note regarding questers trying to combine two options, I know I'm guilty of that at times. But only when in a scenario it seems wholly realistic to me to do so. If there are two guys to talk to, why not say something to both? But if you can either pay this guy or pay that guy then paying half each is obviously not an option in almost all cases. It's similar to when I complained that getting to know someone by spending a few days with them could only be done by sacrificing a whole month on the action. When I think about it I get that it's a game mechanics thing where something that gives tangible benefits like that needs a cost and actions costing the same opportunity wise is much easier to handle in the technical background. But my gut reaction is still "That doesn't make any sense. Mathilde has managed to cramp in so many crazy things into one month at other times and now visiting Wilhelmina and walking away on the same day due to her fight with her son cost us the same amount of effort?" and no matter how I try to see it from a more logical point of view it still frustrates me.
It's just that I approach quests like this on more of a "what would I do and how would the fictional world react to it" basis than on a "turn to page X if you choose this" basis, especially when you're so awesome at keeping everything consistent and seemingly remembering to keep track of all the little consequences while simultaneously writing a really immersive and captivating story. In return I will never ask why a certain crit fail managed to destroy all of a character's wounds or whatever. Abelheim died to shit luck, but I don't doubt that a skeleton unit can down a hero unit.
Edit: I should actually vote instead of just ranting
.
[X] The complete destruction of the entirety of Castle Drakenhof.
[X] Leave it to the dwarven professionals.
[X] Use him to counter any non-trivial sally attempt or any other counterattack.
[X] Treat it as enemy artillery and counter-battery accordingly.