Adran

There is Metal: hog whisperer, slop hauler Alternate Sommer (You may also want to count the metal Sommer crew and Ophelia crew, including war pig, lenny, pigapult, piglets, stuffed piglets, taxidermists and McTavish) War Rooster (Orginally was an alternate pig, but lots got re-based onto a smaller base to be a rooster rider) Peaches (Legal emissary proxy) Plastic: Bayou gremlin, Gator Swinecursed War Wabbit Whisky golem Bob Ross Nightmare Ulix crew Vintage Sommer Alt Lenny. I may have missed a few

That's a good start. I would also look to depleted and beckoners as things to look at with him. That is a good start and ought to be pretty safe with the M3E change coming up. After that I would look for TT models that can take advantage of his "free" ace discard. I'm a big fan of Ten thunders brothers at the moment, the (0) dance is great, and having the ace for it is pretty good. Other models that can make use of it are those that flurry.

In short a stat of 7 plus a card 5 plus spending a soulstone to give you ends up with a final duel total of 12.

Fortunately the fine details of the activation step works, so the ability isn't useless. There is a set step to generate ap, and that is after the model activates, so after you can discard the upgrade.

My stuff is still in the middle of the atlantic ocean ( I knew including the gibbering hordes was a mistake) but I expect my first few Empire games will be strongly based on the starter box stuff, so 1 titan, 1 squad of Infiltrators, 2* Royal rifle corps, field intelligence, motor scout, 2 sharp shooter and then upgrades to finish, (I can't remember what extra stuff I bought) at least until I know how they do on the table and I'm comfortable enough to chop and change lists

There is the legitimate view that buying another master is a gamble. But having several masters in a faction should mean you have a decent chance to use the models. And you can probably correctly guess the themes for 70% of a faction, so you could work that way. There was an earlier thread that talked about the perceived value in the current Lucius box because you'll get 2 masters, but there is the risk you'll want to get the new Lucius and/or Dashel box, so it is up to you. Dead mans Hand masters are getting rules, so they will still be playable crews, but I can certainly see why you might not want to buy non master neverborn purchases because you might not get to use them. If you're getting models to paint, then picking something you want to paint is probably highest. It is likely that if you buy a guild or an arcanist model you would still be able to hire them with the crew you have, just with the out of keyword tax, so whilst it is a risk, its not all that huge.

We hope... Also fun to play against...

The emissary can perform (1) actions from buried models, but that doesn't mean it has the action. Other models can't copy buried models actions from the emissary. So I don't think it can use the action outside of times it can take a (1) action.

Looking at the cards. I agree with ludvig. The changling doesn't have the trapping jaw action for it's ability to happen. You can attack thanks to surprise, but that's it. But I'd also use that argument to say the emissary also can't get those attacks just because something ended a move nearby.

The ability lets Shenlong discard 1 limited upgrade from himself and attach another limited upgrade to himself (discarding any other copies of it you have in play). It doesn't let you put upgrades on anyone else. If you have Sensi yu with his upgrade he is allowed to attach the upgrade that Shenlong discards, but that's not this action, its just a side effect of this action.

Summoning new things during a game, be it upgrades or models, does not require you to spend your starting soulstones on the new summons. You may need to have spent them on something you need to start it off (such as the first Peasant, or a limited upgrade on Shenlong) or on the action that summons it, but you don't need to "buy" what you are going to summon in crew creation

My rough guide is will it stop a bullet? If not, such as wooden fences, hedges, tall grass, then I call it soft. But there isn't a right or wrong answer.

Did you ever Play 1st ed Pandora? She was a totally different beast to 2nd Ed Pandora (A much worse experience to face in my opinion) but they still had the same feel on the table (even though they did different things) so whilst Pandora might not do the same things as she did before, I would expect her to have a similar feel. After all she managed to survive when she could no longer bring a chain of sorrows with her for free to do all that misery damage

I've heard nothing yet in the UK.

Yes, remember each aura does just 1 point of damage, so you would have to spend a stone for each one. Probably not worth it unless you're about to die.