Last night Games Workshop released a new FAQ (really a rules change) for the Xenos 1 index that contains a significant change to the way Strength From Death works, and therefor a significant chance to the Ynarri faction that live and die by it.

The FAQ is only a single paragraph long, but the effect is huge.

Page 76

– Strength from Death

Add the following paragraph:

‘Matched Play: If you are playing a matched play game, a unit from your army cannot make a Soulburst action if a friendly unit has already made the same Soulburst action during your turn. In addition, units from your army cannot perform any Soulburst actions during your opponent’s turn.’

Clearly it is a significant – and not unexpected – change to the power of this rule. Let’s break it down and look at what the in-game impact will be.

1) “a unit from your army cannot make a Soulburst action if a friendly unit has already made the same Soulburst action during your turn”

Ynarri armies were generally built in one of two ways; the more common shooting version and the less common but very powerful combat version. This change means that a Ynarri army can’t spam either the free shooting or the free combat ability.

Rather than Dark Reapers having Yvraine trigger them to fire in the psychic phase and then Wraithguard and Firedragons evaporating nearby units in the shoot phase and also firing again, the player is now left with a difficult decision on who will get the free shot.

By ‘difficult decision’ I mean one that should be factored in during the army construction phase – you need to have a plan for this while drafting your list.

2) “… during your turn”

I am highlighting this wording because of its importance; Ynarri players are used to doing Soul Burst actions in several phases of the game. The restriction on once per type of action is over your entire turn, not per phase.

3) “In addition, units from your army cannot perform any Soulburst actions during your opponent’s turn.”

That is another massive change in a short sentence. One of the joys of playing Ynarri has been pairing up units in ways that if one dies, another within 7″ can get a free move/shot/fight, and forcing the opponent to make difficult decisions about target priority.

It was also a tremendously thematic rule, as it usually meant it was the death of Eldar that triggered the rule.

However, it is gone, and probably won’t be missed by opponents.

4) This is Matched Play only

These rules only apply to Matched play, so outside of that Ynarri can do as they please. Of course, so can all your opponents, spamming their own warptimes and crazy spells and effects, which is a large part of why Matched Play remains much more popular with the general player base.

Are Ynarri still good?

In my opinion, yes -but as a subfaction. They are definitely a lot weaker, but they are certainly still good as a piece of an Eldar puzzle.

I would expect that the long-term effects of this FAQ will be:

Ynarri will be used as an added detachment; a small part of a list instead of the primary. You give up your attributes to gain SFD, but for example it would still be a better rule for Wraithguard in an Alaitoc list or Dark Reapers in an Ulthwe.

To me this is a pretty obvious way to deal with the restrictions on SfD power; take as many Ynarri as you want to benefit from actions with a couple of spare units to take the action after casualties, rather than going pure Ynarri.

They are no longer a no-brainer for Craftworlds; expect to see Craftworlds’ own rules used more often.

They no longer provide a better alternative to Harlequin rules. Expect to see Harlequins run with their own rules much more frequently.