Looking at the new expansion, are minions considered allies? ANSWER: at 6:10 he says they are allies and obstacles
The new expansion (and the actual rules for Minions) aren't out yet. I don't know if they'll be in another video, or if we'll have to wait until the set is released.
According to the intro video they are allies, Editing my post to provide the answer if anyone searches.
That's what Bostria said, but I see so many problems just declaring that both are allies and obstacles that I don't really know what to make up of it. Like, are they also considered characters regarding disengage? if so, why the need for Net of Tentacles? How come the jackbot gets focused states if they are also osbtacles? I see it as an unnecessary layer of possible rules issues. I expect (and hope) the minion card in the box will clear my doubts.
They are minions. Not characters. I don't see any problems because of that. And the tentacles help at brawn which is nice. Imagine a Bachmann having one more shield. :D Also the tactics for moving obstacles or damage close to minions are nice. This will be very interesting but I see Gaia being used more often at start.
That's exactly the problem. Many of the rules are codified to work on Characters, search for "Character" in the reference guide and you get things like Attacks and Attackers, Defenders, Disengage, Damage, Face to Face, in States like burning, if you want to work with any of those rules, you either need an overhaul, or they are actually considered characters. If they are characters, then Net of Tentacles wasn't specifically needed, and you have to roll disengage from jackbots, even if they roll nothing (unless cards are played). An interesting case of this is that Attackers are the Characters that declare the attack. Would Fiddler be the attacker? or is it the Vulcan Jackbot? It gotta be the Vulcan Jackbot, right? Otherwise, it's Fiddler who's receiving phantom damage from the defense roll. And same thing happens if you burn a turret. Burning says that the Character receives 1. If the minion is not a character, then would it receive damage? And each minion would count toward the scoring zone, so Fiddler could move to the SZ, deploy her two jackbots, and count as 3 characters in there. And stuff like this pops up now and again through the reference guide. So yeah, as you said, Minions aren't Characters, moreover, Minions shouldn't be Characters. But if a Minion isn't a Character, then it can't attack, defend, or receive damage. They can be targetted by attacks though, since they are also considered an obstacle. But obstacles by themselves don't get defense rolls. I hope the Minion card addresses these problems, it's probably as easy as stating "Minions are treated as Characters for the purpose of receiving damage and using the actions, automatic skills, and attributes listed in their cards." (Damn, it was actually harder than I thought to unify something that encompasses all the different parts of the card). But you never know...
They have a (and for Gaia's minion even a ) value. They can be target of attacks, so they can be removed. But they are obstacles, so they can be displaced, swapped, vaulted, thrown... And Bostria also said that you need to disengage from them, no?
I don't think the minions cards will address this things. I rather think there will be a rules card for minions adding some clarifications. And the reference guide will be expanded. But so far I don't see any weird rules interactions. The Jackbots attack and defend, brawl etc.
Most of you have been thinking about Obstacles as the Barriers. And now you'll find out that there may be another ones. We have the Barriers and now we're gonna have Minions, that are a special type of Obstacles. Don't worry, a Minions' Rules card is inside the box.
