Yarrick's Senior Officer Rule and Warlord

[The Sovereign]

So the Militarum codex says lord commissars (which Yarrick is) can only be warlord if no other senior officers are present, but Yarrick also has the senior officer rule. Does that make him an exception as a lord commissar who can be warlord despite the presence of a CCS?

[Tzeentch's Dark Agent]

He can be the Warlord regardless, yes. He is a mighty and venerated hero of the Imperium, and everyone views him as a superior.

[The Sovereign]

Well, I agree that's fluffy and how the rules should work, but I'm not seeing where it states explicitly that he can be warlord when other senior officers are present...

[Tzeentch's Dark Agent]

By the fact that he is a Senior Officer.

[Gleipnir]

Yarrick has the Chain of Command special rule the same as Lord Commissars, so you are correct that he would only be the Warlord in a primary detachment absent a Company Command Squad, Creed, or Stracken, though he can accompany another Lord Commissar or Tank Commander just fine.

A Lord Commissar would automatically be second behind Yarrick because as TDA said he is also a Senior Officer so would have greater authority than a standard Lord Commissar.

[Tzeentch's Dark Agent]

I've just emailed the Events Team, we'll see what they say.

[Gleipnir]

If it helps the Warlord would be based on priority

Creed>Stracken or Company Commander>Yarrick>Lord Commissar>Tank Commander for who your Warlord can be.

Rules say this;

CHAIN OF COMMAND
- May only be your Warlord if you have no models with the Senior Officer special rule.

Funny as it may sound technically speaking the wording on Chain of Command actually makes it impossible for Yarrick to be the Warlord since he is a model with the Senior Officer special rule, though I can't see that as being RAI, personally think they should have omitted the Chain of Command rule from his entry where only Creed has the option to defer to him or not. Simple errata fix would be to add "no other models" if they expected Yarrick to keep the rule or simply to remove the Chain of Command rule from his unit thus making the new priority for Warlords

Creed or Yarrick>Stracken or Company Commander>Lord Commissar>Tank Commander

Personally just gonna play is as the first priority options where Yarrick defers to any other senior officers as a Warlord option, until such time they change the rule or remove Chain of Command from his unit.

doncha just love these day 1 rules issues

[Nabterayl]

Chain of Command plainly disallows Yarrick from being a warlord, ever, for the reasons Gleipnir said. Just as clearly, that can't be the intent - otherwise he wouldn't have a specified warlord trait. But ... what then is the point of him having Chain of Command? Why not just leave it off? The only answer I can come up with is that even Yarrick is not allowed to be your warlord if your primary detachment contains another model with the Senior Officer rule. He's still a commissar - he isn't going to take command of somebody's company unless the company commander has proven himself incompetent.

[Tzeentch's Dark Agent]

I'm just going to wait and hear from John Bracken.

[Gleipnir]

Ask him when we can expect a new set of FAQs while you're at it