WHFB: Hobgoblins, A short History – Part 2

After the release of the Hobgoblin Rocket Launcher sculpted by Aly Morrison and Mark Copplestone it all went quiet.

At this point, they had been described in Forces of Fantasy as:

prolific if crude metal workers – producing armour and weapons in great quantities

and possessing:

Hobgoblin Shamans can have fierce mutant guard dogs called Hobhounds.

…along with being subject to frenzy.

They featured in a WHFB 2nd edition scenario, The Dolgan Raiders. They were forming a caravan travelling along the great east road taking stuff to the Old World and were bing attacked by the Dolgans – a group of human nomads (these also are still mentioned in the WHFB fluff as Chaos Marauders). They used lesser Goblins (Gnoblars) as slaves and rode wolves.

In WFRP (1986), they were described as:

…the second largest of the goblinoid races, often reaching six feet in height…The resemble Humans more closely than an Orc or Goblin, although their faces are extremely ugly to human eyes. Their leathery, blemished skin is usually a dark yellowish brown and, unlike most goblinoids, they have a full head of black hair.

In WHFB 3rd Ed (1987), they had changed a bit to the typical Greenskin:

In common with other goblinoid races their skin is dark and geenish.

In Warhammer: Armies, (1988) their mercenary nature was reveealed being list as a Mercenary Contingent only, and also the Hobgobla Khan was mentioned as chief of the ribe of Mournguls.They werfe still subject to frenzy.

All is quiet until their re-appearance as allies and servants of the Chaos Dwarves and their appearance totally changes – full on greenskin appearance with shifty faces and hooked noses. Neither that iteration of Chaos Dwarves nor Hobgoblins caught on, and GW ditched them many years ago. As I was just buying my own house to renovate I never acquired many of these rather odd figures. And to be frank liked none of them.

Hobgoblins next appeared in the Dogs of War series of units GW produced. The Hobgoblins had Oglah Khan’s Wolf boys:

A minor hero also was mentioned and had a mode – Ghazak Khan. As you can tell from the titles, this was a reversion fo the Mongol/Oriental themes they’d started out with.

Since then, nothing. Chaos Dwarves are mentioned and are a side line for Forge World. Of Hobgoblins precious little. Even the Ogre Kingdoms don’t mention them. Only greenskin nomads placed on the Warhammer world map in WD300 are their legacy.

Well that’s going to change. 😉