Im not seeing this.  Is anyone else?

For me the autocast spells are at the top of the queue (so no action bar for them, spells don't have actions).  The spells trigger.  Then it goes onto the next unit, their action bar is displayed and life is good.

It happens to me when a mass effect spell is cast.

I still see this bug. It occasionally hits with any ability that is supposed to go off before the first round of combat. Instead of opening combat with a fire spell like i would like with my mage i have to run to the back and hide.

Derek, I just re-read your post.  The part about "going onto the next unit" may be a clue.  After autocast, if the next unit in the queue is the same unit that triggered the autocast, then you have the problem.

The other thing that makes me think that is that I remember soloing with Queen Procipinee and had that problem, then later I had another unit that had faster initiative who became that "next unit following an autocast (Noble Legacy)" and life was good.

Bumping this now that Derek is probably awake.  Please check out the saved game and screenshots I posted to help.

I have the feeling that you're right about the following unit triggering the same autocast that causes the problem, i will pay more attention an grab some screenshots the next time it happens.