5000 pt Dwarf vs VC

Is your friend new to the game? Is he a vet? That's a lot of anti-magic against an army that really needs magic: he may not like you much after that. But that's also part of the Dwarf "experience" so take it with a grain of salt.

Trollhammer Torpedos seem to be hated on; I don't think they're worth the points you pay for them. It's a BS3 model and it's a single shot. But to each his own.

He's taking a blender lord on zombie dragon? I hope it's not his general as there is a good chance that the entire army will be crumbling after your first turn of shooting

Just make sure there's plenty of terrain for him to hide behind/that blocks cannonballs so that he can (maybe) take advantage of cover on his approach. I'd at least let him blenderize something and have some fun with that vamp before you "toast" it.

But man...3 dispel scrolls, two of which can eat spells...that's going to be harsh on him when he no longer has any spells that bring back models in his units

He did ask for it though so I suppose it's fair.

I don't think you have enough gyrocopters. You should have a pair of bombers and 6 regular copters. Dwarven air force for the win!

to be fair I take double runes twice in a 2400 point list. Knowing he has to take magic you could have gone a lot worse on him.

What are the chances of him going with the general as a level 1 and then that's it, no more casters relying on the march move of his troops and investing in numbers rather than casters.

Greg

I'd say slim to none. He loves hordes and the thought of overwhelming his opponents with vast numbers of Skeletons and Zombies. I know he's already told me that he'll be bringing a horde of Crypt Ghouls, and I'm fairly certain that he'll bring a Terrorghiest, Coven Throne, 6 Vargheists, a Mortis Engine, Varghulf, Black Coach, Black Knight's, etc.

Well, the good thing is that the pressure will definitely be on him to come to me since he has no shooting.

What are your thoughts on taking Thorogrim and 40 Hammerers?

Hmmm...that's a very good point. It's probably overkill anyway.  I originally placed him with the Hammerers to take advantage of their Bodyguard special rule, but I think you're right.  Okay, I've revised my OP.   I put Thorogrim in with the Warriors, because 50 GW Warriors is still packs quite the punch, Longbeards are mostly to anchor the flank of my army, but most importantly, the Warriors (due to Thorogrim's crown conferring Stubborn and Immune to Psychology to his unit), Hammerers (due to the MRoStromniRedbeard), and Longbeards (due to the Rune of Stoicism), are Stubborn and Immune to Psychology this way.  There shouldn't be any running going on.

I've also tried to make sure that each (of the main 3) unit had a character with a runic weapon in there to combat ethereal units. That, combined with CR, should be able to get through them fairly easily. I'll have to use artillery if some of the smaller units are threatened by ethereals (I'm mostly worried about my Gyrocopters and Rangers).

I changed up the BSB banner as well.  Instead of going with the typical MRoGrungni, I changed it up for the MRoStromniRedbeard, the RoCourage, and placed him in the Hammerers unit.  That way, he'll be centrally located in a unit that nobody really wants to fight, he'll confer +1 CR to the Warriors, Hammerers and Longbeards, and also give the Hammerers Immune to Psychology, so they'll never have to worry about those Fear and Terror tests.  Yes, he loses his 4++ ward save, but he'll be nestled in a very tough unit, so that offers him a good degree of protection right there.  

I'm not as worried about him simply avoiding me the entire game, because it is such a large game and he'll have a ton of models.  Besides, I will have the advantage of shooting with all of my artillery which will put a lot of pressure on him to engage with me.  I've pretty much consolidated my forces down to 4 main combat blocks as well (Warriors, Hammerers, Longbeards, and Irondrakes).  Hopefully, that'll be hard to churn through.

I'm thinking that the Mortis Engine, Zombie Dragon and Terrorgheist will be my top priorities for shooting.  I see those as being my biggest threats.  The Black Coach, Coven Throne (not sure about that one), and Vargheists will be a second priority.  Things like ethereal units (Hexwraiths) will need some attention as well.  My Grudge Thrower will (hopefully) target his Necromancer bunker the whole game.  The Cannons will target the big things (mentioned above) and the Bolt Thrower will try to help out where the Cannons simply fall short (i.e. hitting a unit with a flaming bolt to take away any regen, which is prevalent in VC armies).  The Flame Cannon will probably need to target the hordes of Skeletons and Zombies in order to thin them out along with the Gyrocopters and Irondrakes  The Rangers and Quarrellers will target smaller chaff units like Wolves and Fell Bats.  We'll just see because these things always change based on deployment and urgency.  

Yeah, I had to explain that the Runes counted as magical attacks to him just recently. I think it caused him to rethink his list, Lol! He was planning on Ethereal-ing me to death and didn't think that there was anything I could do about it. I'm pretty sure he thought he'd found a loophole. I then had to stumble through the whole "runes aren't magic, but count as magic for game purposes" discussion. Pretty sure he was thoroughly confused.

As far as the artillery being able to take out Ethereal units, yes, that's why I have Runes on every one. BUT...I'd much rather utilize them against his big bads first. Once those are gone, then I'll turn them on his troops. The Grudge Thrower is the only one that will be dedicated to wiping out units - his Necro bunker mostly. If I can at least put pressure on him, then that'll be a huge advantage. I had to drop the RoPenetrating to save points. I concentrated a lot on making sure my main combat blocks were both ItP and Stubborn. He will undoubtedly have tons of troops for grinding me down, and I'll have to slog through a lot of them, So I don't want a blender vampire swooping in after grinding and grinding on a horde just to quickly do several wounds and make me run. Not really sure where else I'd save 40 points. I suppose I could save 20 points by dropping the Trollhammer Torpedo for a pair of Drakefire Pistols on the Irondrake Champ, but I like having that backup shot for things like putting that last wound on a Mortis Engine (I hate that thing), Terrorgheist, or Black Coach. It also has a 24" range, so it makes them a bit more of a threat , longer. Add in Grimm's reroll To Hit ability, then it becomes MUCH more reliable. That's my thinking anyway.