I had this problem at the same age. DS would also wake at least every 2 hours during the night 
I'm afraid I had to bite the bullet and go cold turkey. I did the bedtime routine as normal (bath, bookes etc etc), but just that little bit later so that I knew DS would be very tired at crunch point. He asked for booby and I refused. He was hysterical for 30 mins. I didn't talk to him, no eye contact but plenty of cuddles until he fell asleep. The first 2 nights he woke up about midnight and whinged for an hour (plus a couple of 5 minute-ish whingy episodes). 3rd night he slept through. It took a couple of weeks for him to reliably sleep through but we've never, ever had to go through the 30 minute screaming again. As part of the no booby routine, DH also (from the very start) put him to bed as well.
Our routine is (DS is now nearly 20 months):
6:45pm - Teeth (plus pretending to clean a toy's teeth)
Run naked whilst bath is running
7pm (no later) - Bath
Bedroom - door closed, overhead light on, PJs on
Bedside lamp only - 3 short books, Start no later than 7:30pm
Books Outside (otherwise DS will play with them forever!)
Lamp Off, nightlight on, no talking or eye contact from me. I sit upright at the bottom of his bed so he can't fall asleep on me.
Generally crawls up to the top end at 8pm and conks out. Sleeps through most nights (occasionally needs a 2 min pat and shush).
I found the change in lighting to act as more of a rputine cue than the actual activities.
Good Luck - only do something like this (i.e. where tears are involved) if you really want to and you can see it through. I told myself I wouldn't let him cry more than 2 hours then I would quit and try again a few weeks later. Luckily not necessary! I was too much a softy to do proper controlled crying.