Hobgoblin Cutthroats

Arguably the vilest and most treacherous of all the Goblin and Orc kin, Hobgoblins are taller and leaner than ordinary Goblins, yet nowhere near as burly and brutal as Orcs. In fact, their whole appearance is emaciated and vicious - with narrow eyes and sneering mouths full of pointed teeth that smile moon-wide in an idiotic grin at the merest suggestion of sadistic violence in the offing. The Chaos Dwarfs long ago realised the Hobgoblins were a servile, craven, malevolent and generally despised race, and so adopted the Hobgoblins of the Dark Lands as eminently suitable lackeys and disposable minions - in particular as slave masters, overseers, tribute-collectors, and even when pressed, as warriors. Hobgoblins are universally loathed by other Greenskins, and only their relentless, twitchy vigilance and the protective shadow of their masters stops the other Orc and Goblin slaves from tearing them apart.

Whilst far from the best troops - in fact generally varying wildly between feverish violence and debased cowardice, they are too weak-willed and untrusting even of each other to mount any kind of cohesive rebellion and are so hated by other races their loyalty is assured - after a fashion. The Dwarfs of Zharr don't make much of an effort to equip their Hobgoblin troops on the basis that they are little more than battle fodder, and can be relied on to largely look after themselves (in other words, pilfer loot from the battlefield and each others). Hobgoblins, given the choice, which they rarely have, favour razor-sharp curved blades - all the better to stab their foes in the back with and watch the blood flow, but if pressed into direct battle, they prefer whenever possible to fight from a distance using crude bows and then to pounce on an unwary or crippled foe.

Disreputable and fractious, Hobgoblins, like most Greenskins, have a tendency to fight among themselves even in the midst of battle. This is a problem, which given a Hobgoblin's propensity for murderous spite and self-serving cowardice it is only their deep-seated fear of their Chaos Dwarf masters that can enforce them back into some semblance of order.

Of all Goblin kind Hobgoblins are highly regarded as the most devious, cowardly, treacherous and outright murderous, and are utterly distrusted even by their fellow Greenskins. These backstabbers and cutthroats habitually go around armed with all manner of man-stikkas, blades, daggers and razors, and for every knife they wear openly, it can be wagered there's at least a few more you can't see concealed about their person, just ready to be plunged into an unsuspecting foe's back.

Source
Hobgoblins
 * Tamurkhan: The Throne of Chaos.

[[Category:H]] [[Category:C]]