The Orc arsonist in HoN says that after he engages you, you deal a shadow card to each enemy engaged with that player.

1) does this forced effect take place if you optionally engage him? I say no. Thoughts?

2) does this include himself?

3) this happens during engagement, so enemies will get another card at the beginning of the combat phase, correct?

3) does it only include those enemies already engaged with you? Meaning, if another enemy comes down through player engagement, that enemy would be afterwards, so I'd assume no.

1) Would occur even if optionally engaged. There is a ruling, I think it's in the FAQ, that states engagement is engagement. Whether the player chooses to engage the enemy or whether they are forced to, in both situations the enemy is considered to have considered the player, and the player is considered to have engaged the enemy.

2) Yeah, he'll get one since he is engaged with you at the point that the effect triggers.

3) Yes, enemies will get another card at the start of the combat phase.

4) If you optionally engage the arsonist, he'll get a card. If another enemy is then forced to engage you during engagement checks, that enemy will not get a card via the arsonist's effect, since it was not engaged with you at the time that the effect was triggered.

1) Would occur even if optionally engaged. There is a ruling, I think it's in the FAQ, that states engagement is engagement. Whether the player chooses to engage the enemy or whether they are forced to, in both situations the enemy is considered to have considered the player, and the player is considered to have engaged the enemy.

Well, it's in the core set rules I think, but the reason I ask, is that some of the brigands in HoN seem to indicate that if you engage them they do a little less damage/stealing than if they engage you. So, it's kind of confusing, it seems like slitting hairs with the rules on the orc arsonist, but then it seems that the encounter deck has split hairs in the brigands. Does that make sense?

Yeah, makes sense. The language on the Brigands cards directly contrasts "engage" vs "optionally engage," so it makes sense to think that "engage" vs "optionally engage" wouldn't trigger the same set of responses. We've had official clarification on that though, so unless there is some parenthetical that specifically gives you different instructions for optional engagement (as with the Brigands), the effect will trigger regardless of how the card is engaged.

Hey, thanks! Yeah, I reread the various cards & directions last night, and that makes sense.