(( Tomasus,
First a couple of brief thoughts:
1) At 1500 points, you can get away with having LD in the 7 - 8 range. It's not fully reliable... but... it's passable. Especially if you have a BSB to let you re-roll LD tests.
2) At 1500 points, you really don't need a lord-level character. That'll save you a ton of points to use elsewhere, if you want.
3) For Vampire Counts, taking out the lich is critical. A good Vampire Counts player can generate some 15 skeletons a turn, easily. Taking out the Lich will allow you to then really begin melting the Vampire troops.
4) I find Skaven to be very hard to plan against, as their book / FAQ is very... badly written. It relies too much on "fun", and not enough on "clear rules that make for straight-forward understandings"
5) With the new book, Dwarf Armies are no longer as static / castling as they used to be. They can still do that very well, but now Dwarves have a number of mobility options, and one of the racial abilities rewards Dwarf players for being the one charging into melee.
6) You really don't have enough models to come up with two, separate lists... both of your lists will be very similar.
7) Even at lower point games, blocks of infantry need to be about 25+ models. This'll give them the ability to weather missile / spell fire, and still have the weight of numbers to do be a legitimate threat melee. Any smaller, and they tend to become combat ineffective fairly quickly.
8) Blocks of cavalry can be 5 - 6 models, depending on their role. I find, though, that I like cavalry in blocks of 10 - 12... as it adds to their ability to HULK SMASH pretty well.
Now, given the small pool of models you have to work with, I would suggest the following.
Characters:
1) Wizard, level 2 upgrade, with a dispell scroll. I tend to like Fire, Heavens, and Shadow (Red-Blue-Black, if your a MtG fan)... others like Life (Green-White) and Light (White-Red)
1-A) Fire offers some cheap ways to get damage against your opponent; Heavens is pretty well balanced; Shadow offers some neat ways to cripple your opponent... though the spells are a bit pricier to cast.
1-B) If you did want a Lord-level character, upgrade the wizard to a Wizard Lord, and then get him level 4. At 1500 points, he'll be able to do some serious magical umph to your army, as our wizard characters are on the cheaper side.
2) Warrior Priest, heavy armor, shield (this'll be your general). For your Battle Prayers, keep in mind that you can attempt to cast them on 1d6 with a decent chance of success. So... if you have a low-power magic phase, you can still get off a prayer.
3) Captain of the Empire, Full Plate, Shield, Pistol, Battle Standard Bearer upgrade (his main job is to give you the ability to re-roll all LD tests, within 12" of him,... thus making the 7 - 8 LD range more reliable)... you could easily use some of your extra points to give your BSB a Ward Save.
Units:
1) 20 State Troops. Your choice of Swords or Halberds. Both have their advantages. I prefer Swordsmen, as they are a spot more survivable. I've used Spearmen fairly extensively (as I have a whole company of them assembled and painted)... they're alright, but, don't really excel in anything. Still... Spearmen are cheap, even when fully equipped.
1-A) If you can, I would assemble the Greatswords, and then use them to up-size your block of state troops to the 25 - 30 range.
1-B) I would suggest full command for your block of State Troops as well. If you're tight on points, at least the Standard and Musician. The ability to Swift Reform via the Musician can save you critical movement.
2) If you can, use the Handgunners as Crossbowmen. Normally you'll deploy about 20 - 24" apart from your opponent. The 30" range of the crossbow will let you back-deploy them a bit, giving them the potential of having an extra turn of shooting before everything becomes a melee scrum. At 1500 points, the Strength 4 / -1 to Armor crossbow is plenty, as you shouldn't be facing too many heavily (3+ or better Armor Save) armored troops. (Skaven and Wood Elves also tend to be lightly armored. High Elves and Vampires tend to be moderately armored. Dwarves and Chaos tends to be armored.)
2-A) Keep in mind that our missile troops cannot multi-task. At all. They will not do a whole lot successfully in melee.
2-A-1) Due to this, giving them a Standard is a bad idea, as the crossbows can easily lose in melee. A standard lost in melee gives your opponent extra Victory Points.
2-B) Since missile troops can fire in two ranks, I'd build your last two handgun troops. That way the block will be 20-strong. 20 shots, even when hitting on 5+, does tend to make someone nervous.
2-C) I would suggest a Musician for the Crossbows... and a Marksman, if you have the points.
3) 8 Knights with Lance and Shield; full command. These guys should be flanking whatever the infantry block engages in the front. Overall, they'll be one of your hammer units.
3-A) If you have the points, up-grade them to Inner Circle knights.
Overall, that'll give you three, Core units for the field.
Special:
1) Cannon. While the cannon is okay at taking out enemy troops (you only hit one model per rank, so it doesn't do a lot of volume hits), it's phenomenal at taking out (or at least heavily damaging) enemy characters, monsters, and big fuglies.
Rare:
1) Steam Tank. This beast should be a chore for other armies, at 1500 points. They'll not have a reliable way to damage the tank, as its high Toughness, high Wounds, and 1+ Armor Save allow it to soak damage... like a boss! It is also quite capable of damage, and can be your other hammer unit.
1-A) Just generate 4 steam a turn... trundle the tank forward, and steam-on with the steam gun (not the cannon).
1-A-1) Don't forget, even in melee, you can use the Steam Gun each turn. (Normal Breath Weapons can only be used once... a game.) So in melee, with 4 Steam Points, you can generate 3d3 Grinding Hits during the movement phase, and then 2d6 hits from the Steam Gun each turn... plus the one attack from the Engineer as well.
Overall that'll give you about 1300 of your 1500 points used... so, you have some points for magic items and upgrades... or the Wizard Lord. ))
