The Rebel Heroes won the Old Friends mission (actually, I had made a mistake with setup so I gave the win since I didn't want to replay).

Can the Rebel scum choose to use the Elite version?

Also, the combiniation of Fearless Leader giving 2 lower cost seems really OP.

If I had that I would deploy them every mission.

You can only use the elites of you have earned the same ally twice through different missions. Until then, you can only use the normal version. I'm sure someone will give exact rrg page numbers soon, but I'm at work and can't help there.

By the rules you need to win them twice to get the Elites. That being said, no reason you couldn't houserule it otherwise. It's balanced by means of giving you more threat.

Thanks for the answer.

We play by the rules and my friend even said "why would I get the Elites". I couldn't answer him. Now I can, thanks.

Rules reference:

RRG, Page 5, "Allies", >> "Rebel Allies"

If an ally has both a regular and elite Deployment card, only the regular card can be used as an ally. If an ally is rewarded to the heroes and the heroes have already earned that ally, they can use either the elite or regular Deployment card.