Well I finally got hold of Shadow and Flame today, its taken longer to get to the UK than the Hobbit.
Anyway - In the rules is says allies and attachments can only be played in the planning phase. Some event cards (sneak attack and stand and fight and others) get around this by "putting the ally into play". So I can't play an ally (or attachment) in the combat phase but I can "put one into play". Vilya says you can "play or put into play", so does this mean it can be used "put into play" an ally or attachment when not in the planning phase?