Many models sharing the same animation sequence? I would like to share animations sequences between models (if possible).

There are currently several models and more will be added soon. All of the models need to execute the same animation sequences like walk, run, fight, etc. These animations will be seen from different camera angles since they will be used in an isometric game. 

I would like to automate the build process. Is it possible to link an in-house 'standard' armature (set of bones) and make all of the artists bind different meshes to the same rig, and then animate the standard rig?

I know that it would limit the artists since they would be forced to fit the models they make to the rig, but I hope it would give us the ability create more animations quickly and at lower cost than using custom animations. Is this possible?
The key to sharing animations between objects is actions. An action is a sequence of animation keyframes that is linked to an object. The Action Editor is a sub-editor of the dopesheet.

When you have two or more objects that you want to share an action, select the new object then select the action in the action editor.



When you play the animation you will find that the two objects will now move in unison. There are two ways to adjust this, one is to make the animation unique to the object by clicking the number next to the Action Name. This duplicates the action, similar to duplicating a material etc. making it unique to the object allowing you to adjust the frames that the action is performed on.

Another option is to use the NLA Editor to adjust timing of the action.



Here you can see that metarig is playing action LiftLeg from frame 1, metarig.001 also has the LiftLeg action associated with it at frame 1. By clicking the down arrow icon (the arrow will be in 2.71, in earlier versions it looks like a snowflake) in line with metarig.001's LiftLeg action it will turn into an NLA track as seen with metarig. Now you will be able to adjust the action timing.

You can easily drag the action in the timeline to alter the start frame, but if you open the properties sidebar (press N) you also get access to more options like scale, repeat count and blend mode. Scaling allows a character to perform the action quicker or slower than other characters. You can have several actions for an object in the NLA at the same time and choose how they blend together, so you can have you character walking and then have a wave action override the arms at a given time.



Here the metarig repeats the walk cycle 5 times and just before the third time he starts waving.

If your using the game engine then you can use an Action actuator to play a specific action when you want it.