Because if there's a sudden influx of Helldrakes and Fiends, you can be damned sure that there will be a lot of Space Wolf heroes with the Saga Of The Beast Slayer, as well as more Lone Wolves with all the wargear available to them.
So let's go through each of the new units and think about how we're going to deal with them.
Remember that the rules aren't out right now, so this is largely speculation based on units that have gone before and general trends in Games Workshop's unit creation.
Hell Drake
All we know is that it's Armour 12, it can Vector Strike and it can have a single gun of some kind.
Personally, I'm just going to ignore it unless it can Vector Strike ground units. So far the rumours have indicated it can only Vector Strike other flyers.
Because Space Wolves don't have flyers and the Hell Drake only has a single gun, it's going to be a waste of points against an army like ours. Especially now as 6th edition is encouraging us to ditch the Rhino transports and become a Chapter of footsloggers instead.
Forge Fiend
In game terms, this is like facing a Tyranid Tyrannofex, but with the same firepower as 3 Obliterators.
I expect it to cost around the same number of points with the same stats as a Tyrannofex and a 3+ save.
Jaws Of The World Wolf or simply lots of Krak Missiles should deal with this in the same way.
How does it compare to Obliterators that we're used to facing? Well, there's a big difference between a 3+ and a 2+ save when it comes to killing stuff.
And considering Space Wolves have always struggled against 2+ armour (unless you're running Las/Plas Razorback spam), the 3+ armour makes the Forge Fiend a welcome target for Long Fangs.
Mauler Fiend
While the Mauler is the Forge Fiend's close combat equivalent, it's 3+ save is going to make it easy pickings for our Long Fangs' Krak Missiles in the same way as a Tyranid Trygon.
Essentially it's the same thing for us and we all know how much we love bringing down Tyrgons in close combat or with focus firepower.
All I can say to these is "bring it!" and stick some Lone Wolves out in front.
Warp Smith
The evil Tech Marine looks like he could be a tough one. However, unlike the Imperial equivalent he apparently reduces the cover save of terrain and has an ability called Machine Curse.
Well, we don't seem to have many vehicles nowadays and any loss in cover save can be remedied by giving a Rune Priest "Stormcaller".
I'd be more worried if the Warp Smith could take an artillery piece in the same way a Tech Marine can take a Thunderfire Cannon or Conversion Beamer.
Dark Apostle
Onc again, rumours suggest that the evil Chaplain causes negative effects rather than positive ones.
Not sure what they are, but the easy answer is to use your Wolf Standards for re-rolls of 1s in close combat and kill him and whoever he's leading.
Warp Talons
Look, evil Sanguinary Guard! Well, when Sanguinary Guard were good and struck in Initiative order.
Power Weapons always hurt Space Wolves because we're always striking at Initiative 4.
If Warp Talons get a 2+ save then we'll just have to saturate them with fire though they were Sanguinary Guard, although the increased need for Plasma guns in our army could put an end to this unit very quickly.
If they've only got a 3+ save, then things became a lot easier anyway.
I know I wrote an article titled Chaos Is Coming But Do We Care? a few weeks back, but there really doesn't seem to be anything to be worried about for our Space Wolves.
Rune Priests, Lone Wolves, Grey Hunters and Long Fangs are such strong and versatile choices that we can overcome almost anything.
However, I'm willing to bet that our real bane will be Thousand Sons because of their AP3 Bolters and the sudden shift in Space Wolves armies to marching forward en masse on foot.
Speaking of which, I'm borrowing James' Thousand Sons army again this weekend for a little one day tournament at Wayland tomorrow.
Hopefully I'll get a Space Wolf opponent so I can write a battle report for you guys soon.
