Well done Handsom, well done! :) If you're going to derail a thread, that's how you do it with style, yo! 

Picked up both Action Strings and Emotive Strings from NI recently.  They are pretty good for what they do and they compliment each other, and, other string libraries.   Certain things they provide are very difficult to create with traditional MIDI instruments, passages that only real string players or a group a string players can convincingly duplicate.  
 
I don't think these or other musical tools are cheating in this regard, you still have to understand music and know how to use the tools to get anything useful out of them.   Like owning Adobe Illustrator doesn't make me an artist, I still can't produce anything useful with it after a number of years:)   Otherwise one could argue that hiring an orchestra, or a drummer, bass player or singer is cheating, dishonest or not musically pure???  BIAB is another great example, quite good for sketching ideas quickly, and even using some of the RealBand parts for your works.... at the end of the day, why not use all available tools to give your listener the best possible experience?   Just my two cents.
 
Back on track..    Anyway, Action Strings is great as is Emotive Strings.  
 
Regards