One option that we have as empire is to try and just go magic defensive. Try taking a warrior priest or two and a single wizard with the rod of power. Use the rod to save power dice for your opponents phase, and try to put a little MR on units that are really important. Its not how I personally like to play, but if your really sick of miscasts and your wizards blowing themselves up, its a possibility.
As far as lores, light is a great all around choice. Shadow and death are also not terrible choices. Death can attempt to snipe out his general. If you use Von Horstman's Speculum (I always use it, and sometimes make the mistake of assuming that everyone does) you can try to be sneaky and teleport your wizard around for free, trying to get whoever has it into combat with their general. Once you kill the general Counts are in a lot of trouble, so if your down for shenanigans and annoyed opponents, thats not a bad combo.
Hope this helps, and good luck