Is the Engine of the gods burning alignment considered a spell? High Elves have an item that gives them a 2+ wardsave against spells. Would this include burning alignment?
In the book they are called "effects" not spells. They can't be dispelled so I would think this doesn't apply to the Engine of The Gods. It does not say it is magic though it is resolved during the magic phase.
Yeah they are not spells or people could try to dispel them, so the HE item is useless. It counts as a magic attack, but so do magic weapons and they are not spells.
The elf player is using the argument that in our FAQ, it says about the engine of the gods that "It is not the priest that is casting the spells" He argues that this then implies that they are in fact spells! His logic makes sense, but I also think it could be a poor choice of words by the faq writers.
it doesn't really mater. there is a description of spells in the BRB and i think it goes something like this "ability with a set value that must be beaten by dice". the engine of the gods has neither a set casting value nor is it cast by dice or items [bound spell].