countering the magic men

[lother22]

o guys this is a call for help with a large problem i see. magic heavy armies, lord wizard and 3 lvl 2's

problem is nearly every army is better at magic than the empire, as a good ol dwarf at heart and disliking magic i dont want to be fielding 3 lvl1 mages with 6 dispell scrolls.

so ways and means you people have found for countering magic heavy armies please.

[kithre]

Empire isn't that bad at magic, you have lots of pretty good magic weapons. Warrior Priests and Arch Lectors ar a nice compromise between wizards and fighty characters, they are pretty handy in combat, have access to Prayers of Sigmar and dispel dice. The Empire also have one of the nastier magic items in the VHS, whichc an make a warrior priest into the equal of a Chaos Lord.

Units like the STANK are very difficult to manage with magic, they can only be damage by spells with a strength value.

[Orkbert]

With a bit empire-specific tactics in mind:

A lot of players nowaday field an arch lector and a lvl1 scroll caddie which already yields 5 dispel dice and up to 2 scrolls. (And you still have 2 character slots open for captains or another warrior priest)
Of course, this won't stop everything if your opponent maxed out on casting power, but should at least mitigate the worst magical threats (because usually not all power dice will become successfull casting attempts) and you could still field another wizard with more scrolls (although I personally prefer the rod of power for more versatility)

Another point is careful planning on what to dispel and what not. A large infantry-block of 25 or more can soak up a regular magical missile (d6 st4 hits) without even having to make a panic test. Likewise, the knightly orders are well-armored enough to take some, too (of course, sometimes you will botch even 1+ saves, but on the other hand, your spellcasting opponent should also get every now and then a miscast)
If things are still looking grim, then add some magic resistance to your most important units.

And for the offensive side of dealing with too much spellcasters:
A lot of spells still need line of sight and most have a maximum range, so a good deal of casters will have to move closer to your units than they like (and if they need line of sight then you will see them too)
Then, if possible, bring down the units containing the spellcasters. Warmachines are usually well suited for it (some crossbows and/or handgung will also be very useful)
don't be shy to aim your cannons at a wizard to which you can draw a line of sight. This at least forces him to a 'lookout-sir'-throw, which he will now and then fail.
And everything that can snipe them even inside units is even better (as wizards usually have only mediocre toughness ans even worse armor saves), especially the hochland long rifle (as it even outranges most spells)