Allies are one of two types of cards found in the Asset deck, one of the four central decks from which players draw their hands.
Whereas in the last draft, all cards from the Asset deck could be played without cost, the newest draft introduces a kind of tiered system of putting Allies into play. Some are still free to play, but have relatively weak abilities and limited use. In order to get the more powerful allies out, a player must already have allies in play. The greater the ally ability, the more allies need be on the table.
The new draft is printed, placed in sleeves and ready to play test. One problem I've foreseen (after I finished printing of course) is a player getting stuck with higher powered allies in hand with no way to play them. One solution will be to initiate more Subterfuge plots (I'm calling them plots now instead of missions) to find and steal opponents' low powered allies. This can help, but probably won't solve the problem. If this indeed is an issue, a way to further address it will be with Boons (the second type of card in the Asset deck) and/or a hard rule that allows for an alternative way to get allies in play. We'll see as I move forward with play testing.
