Been thinking of trying this actually. May start a new post for community feedback...

hmmm...sounds more like the role of a Paladin than a Battle Mage, the Battle Mage is more about throwing magic at the enemy and backing it up with weapons.

If you want to stay true to concept, you should focus on Destruction, Alteration, Conjuration, two-handed weapons (to combine Axe and Long Blade of old), and Heavy Armor. Your secondary focus should be on Marksman, Alchemy, Enchanting and...? Oh Mysticism, I miss you. I guess you could replace Mysticism with Restoration, but only take self-healing spells (you ain't no damn priest). No Illusion, or minimal Illusion - certainly don't buy any perks in it besides maybe novice and dual-casting. A real battlemage doesn't waste time with smoke and mirrors; he wrecks face with Destruction spells while his summoned minions do the damage up close. And if anything is left standing afterwards, it gets chopped into tiny pieces with large weapons while futilely trying to scratch its way through the battlemage's protective spells and armor.

"There is no more terrible student of war than a battlemage."

Yeah, I've looked at the old classes for Oblivion and Morrowind, but my feeling is that using all those skills in Skyrim would be difficult to pull off. Especially since I have never played a character beyond level 30...

Expect me back here when I get out of school today (or tomorrow). I've got a lot to say, and I hope it can help or inspire. *follows topic*

Turns out I have some time on my hands.

Firstly, I want to say that I've played an Imperial Battlemage in Skyrim, and it was awesome. Here's how the build went:

General skills were Alteration, Restoration and One Handed. I barely dabbled in Conjuration, picking three perks for the Bound Sword (Novice Conjuration, Mystic Binding, and the Soul Trap perk).

Typically, I'd go into battle with an armor spell in my left hand and the Bound Sword spell in my right, casting both to start with and then switching my left hand to the hotkeyed Restoration spell I'd use to heal (usually Fast Healing). It was a whole lot of fun, and I was able to switch back and forth between armor spells and healing on the fly. No physical armor meant free, easy movement, and mobility is important when using a single weapon. Wards for dragon breath and enemy mages, shouts, and Dawnbreaker just made everything so much fun.

I got into Enchanting because I ended up with more souls than I knew what to do with. It was a useful skill, since being a Battlemage means I need to spread myself thin over all three attributes and enchanted equipment can help mitigate any disadvantage you'd normally have. The Gauldur Amulet and Master Robes of Restoration were great, as well (I used Restoration robes over others or crafted clothing because it was the spell type I'd cast most often, since armor and conjured weapons stay up for a while, and you can't make a bonus that great on your own).

What with all that goodness, I eventually got into using Paralyze and dove into Smithing...I highly advise avoiding both. Shouts already have a means for circumventing Paralyze (namely, Fus Ro Dah and Ice Form). It's also expensive to cast (and a Battlemage doesn't have a lot of magicka), and generally you'd need only either an armor spell or paralysis in a battle, but not both, so it was a lot less fun. As for Smithing, I was already very competent and powerful in battle, and Smithing just broke it for me. Instead of using and appreciating my Bound Sword and any one-handed weapon I found or enchanted, it was down to Deadric weapons, and I didn't even use armor, so it felt like a terrible waste Smithing was when the character stopped being fun.

Recently, I made a Breton Battlemage, but he's no fun either. Destruction, Heavy Armor, One Handed, Restoration, Enchanting--basically what you want--and it's a drag. But I have a better idea: instead of focusing on Restoration, use Alchemy. You already have enough skills to use in combat (One Handed and Destruction--two is more than enough), and you only have two hands, so it's good to be a little more focused. Again, don't smith. Here's the build idea:

Main skills:
-One Handed
-Destruction
-Heavy Armor
Supplemented by:
-Alchemy
-Enchanting

Again, with Enchanting, you can mitigate the fact that you have to spread yourself thin stat-wise. With Enchanting, you can give your blades a burning edge or can "daze" (slow/stamina drain) enemies with a mace, which, personally, I find quite Battlemagey.

With Alchemy, you can restore all three of your attributes (where Restoration would be draining your magicka reserves more, which is bad since you need Destruction spells), or boost Destruction/One Handed damage when necessary, but that's not what I like most about this build. What's better is that you can increase your defenses greatly (magic/elemental resistance, Heavy Armor skill) for that Battlemage feel (or, at least, that's how I feel--after playing KoA: Reckoning, I find Battlemages defensive). And instead of boosting Destruction or One Handed damage, you can poison your enemies so that your shock spells and shock damage enhanced sword deal more damage. The weakness to element poisons are stronger than the One Handed/Destruction buffs you can get, as well as apply to damage dealt by companions, summons (summoned via scrolls/staves, of course) or other attacking enemies.

I'd go for a Breton with the Lord, Lover, Serpent or Atronach stones. Any of those would synergize wonderfully, but avoid the Lord stone if you have magic resistance on your equipment (Atronach is still a good stone even with such equipment). But if you want Imperial, so be it; I still advise the same skills and stones.

I hope that helped

Holy....... that was probably one of the most inspiring build write ups for an RPG I've ever seen. Makes me want to start a cleric-y battlemage now! Wow, another one to add to the pile, clearly. Thanks very much.

Indeed - thanks for that!

Tower Mage
-----------------
-use a shield in your left hand
-spell in your right
-heavy armor

It makes for a fun play style

Something I'm thinking about more and more lately.

I imagine that'd work well with either Heavy Armor or Alteration, if you want to specifically specialize in shield usage (like a "shieldmaiden" or some such class). The Mage Armor perk, according to UESP, is not affected by shields.

I'm thinking either a focus with shields and Destruction/other spells/staves, or shields and defensive spells, with the shields themselves the primary (or only) source of damage output. Thoughts?

An Imperial is fine but their special abilities are what really matters. Their higher skill levels are just temporary. Their special abilities are permanent so they make better Assassins or Thieves.

So if you get caught assassinating someone or stealing you can use Voice of the Emperor on the guards and have plenty of time to escape or pay the fine cause sometimes the guards dont give you that option if your bounty is too high. If they're hostile and you use Voice of the Emperor on them they will let you pay the fine instead.

It's also useful to fix bugged NPC's who are not following the script. Just hit them and then use VotE and it will usually fix the problem.

Their second special ability is especially useful for Thieves for obvious reasons.

Cicero, the caretaker/assassin and Lucien Lachance, Speaker for the Black Hand/Spectral Assassin are both Imperials.

Oddly enough, I've been kicking this idea around recently myself. Didn't realize it had a proper name, Tower Mage. Nice.

If you've played this style before, would love some feedback.

http://www.gamesas.com/topic/1358160-shield-mage-build-idea-with-mod-support/

I would assume Respite/Recovery are their main reasons for investing into restoration since you're going to be healing anyway

Those perks are really not needed, I usually only invest in novice restoration to half magicka on basic healing spell. I've never had to use anything else in the restoration tree for my Battle Mage. A Battle Mage is all about offensive magic imo.