Ok well lets look at 1500 to start:
Captain: ** : 121
BSB: **
Full Plate: *
Enchanted Shield: *
Dawnstone: **
Warrior Priest: ** : 120 = 240
Great Weapon: *
Armour of Silvered Steel: **
Luckstone: *
Battle Wizard Lord: *** : 225 = 465
Level 4: **
Dispel Scroll: **
Lore of Life
48 Halberds: 288 : 308 = 773
Banner: **
Musician: **
10 Archers: ** = 843
Cannon: *** = 963
Hellblaster Volley Gun: *** = 1083
Steam Tank: *** = 1333
3 Demigryph: 154 = 164 = 1497
Banner: **
With this list you have monsterous Cav knights for some nice heavy hitting, a powerful block for the bsb and prest which will be 3d 6 leadership on tests with a reroll, possible prayer based ward saves and both characters are not going to die in a hurry, the hatred also makes them a bit nasty.
The cannons and Steam tank can do their own thing and the wizard with life stays in the archers in skirmish behind the big block, the tank to one flank protecting the unit and dishing out the pain.
With the life wizard though this will let you heal it every time it is hurt and cast buff spells on the state troop block.
So in this list you have allot of fire power at range so you have 2 cannons if you include the tank, a steam gun, some archers and a hellblaster, a large cheap deathstar of sorts which can realy hurt and hold anything in place, a hammer unit of cav and all your characters are very survivable or well protected in addition to you also totting 2 wizards due to the priest and a level 4.
This is the kind of list i would use but it should serve him well once he learns how to use the army.
So tell me do you think this will do the job?
The engineer is a good but costs a bit more than i like to spend at low points, light wizars are also good but i find too much magic can leave you vulnerable if you get a bad roll.