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I think at the moment the biggest sources for these guys are Whitefang and Grim Dark Live. Whitefang was talking about these guys even before Grim Dark Live though and called Kragnos exactly, and even Grim Dark Live said in their video there was a language barrier with their source. Whitefang then corrected them from Cruel Boyz to Kruel Boyz also. So I'm inclined to believe Whitefang's hints they're a part of Warclans in this case. If indeed that's what's even being hinted at lol.

They're just such a cool army with cool lore to be honest. The whole aesthetic of twisted dwarf industry with fire and bulls everywhere. The idea of an evil dwarf not only being able to create a cannon, but also be able to summon and bind a daemon to that cannon so that it now spews hellfire is just... badass. See, dwarfs in themselves are cool. They're stubborn, well-armored, war-machine making short tough guys. Just a bunch of Wolverines with a long sordid and sad history. They're classic fantasy staples. The Warhammer ones are even cooler with their guns and warmachines and being darker in general. Now you take this already fun race in itself, then you corrupt it. Now they're not just dwarfs, they're dwarfs that worship a lesser known evil god because their ancestor spirits abandoned them. They still have the same concepts as normal dwarfs, they're master crafters, stubborn, and grumpy, but you take to that extreme and add magic. They're not just making warmachines, they're making horrific warmachines not to protect their holdings but specifically for conquest and to inflict pain. They've got cannons that shoot magma, horrible machines made of just axes, hammers, buzzsaws, and whatever else sharp you can throw in there just to mutilate people. In Tamurkhan, they had what's essentially napalm bombs made from mixing fire daemon essence with chemicals. Dwarfs have runes, but Chaos Dwarfs have magic and they're mixing that in with their warmachines by enslaving daemons and binding them to their weapons. They don't have blacksmiths, they have daemon-smiths. But there's more. Chaos Dwarfs are still dwarfs, so the magic has a setback. The more magic they use, the more they turn to stone as their body fights it. So they replace their stony body-parts with steampunk robot pieces the more stone-like they become, so now you got cyborg dwarfs thrown in the mix. Then you add one more unique thing to the mix. Chaos Dwarfs are Chaos dwarfs, so they need mutations. So what do they get? While yes, the dwarfs start developing horns here and there. But what else for a bull-worshipping evil race? BULL. CENTAURS. That's right, now you've got centaurs that are not just human and horse or gor and horse like centigors, no, no, they're dwarf and bull! And of course the naming scheme doesn't make a lick of sense when you think about what the word centaur means, but it's still such an insane idea that it doesn't even matter. Then you take the grumpiness to the max. Now they're not just grumpy, they're down-right evil and cruel. They use slaves to power their industries. They've turned their lands into industrial wastelands. In AoS, Zharr Vxya is essentially an oil rig where they're siphoning energy from the dead in the underworld there. Warhammer has plenty of evil races, but Chaos Dwarfs are a particular type of evil that's not really covered by any other race. Even Skaven who are also mad engineers and scientists, are more of a zany evil making big wheels while sniffing warp-dust. They don't really have whole land corrupting factories powered by the slaves or at the cost of other races, pumping out weapons to fuel conquest like the Chaos Dwarfs do. And finally, the aesthetic. Chaos Dwarfs just look cool. There's been different interpretations of course. You have the helmeted ones from Azgorh and before 5th edition. And those are still cool looking and even just an update with that aesthetic would be alright. Then you have the hats. There is no argument to be made here. This hat is peak perfection. It's so amazing those damned pointy-eared realmlords had to make their own poor imitations just to cope with the absolute POWER emanating from this specimen. And this alone should prove why they need a plastic update and their own official battletome that's not a PDF from Forgeworld's website.

Haven't heard that one. Not sure if I believe it as I don't see in what way. The only thing I could think of is some sort of taskmaster or if these hobgobs are supposed to be metallurgists as per the rumor, some sort of master blacksmith? Seems out of place though. I think it might be wishlisting or just a misinterpretation of the hobgobs unit, as much as I'd personally love to see it. Maybe the "kruel boyz" are kruel cause of the bad influence from Chaos Dwarfs? lol

In the Warcry novel about the Iron Golems, the protagonists (Iron Golems) visit a Chaos Dwarf forge for a shipment of armor they were supposed to receive. Run by a Chaos Dwarf and his Ogor slaves, its shown to be how the Iron Golems are mainly supplied. The Chaos Dwarf says that his race, which he refers to as the Furnace Kings, was once the greatest forge masters in the land and nearly ruled the realms but have since fallen from grace and forced to supply the forces of Chaos as a means to survival. He's shown to be extremely bitter about it too and full of contempt. So, actually, that does fit in with that lore that perhaps their technology is not at its peak anymore. That or maybe they just don't give the greenskins any of the good stuff cause they're just scamming them . Also the forge has statues dedicated to Hashut indicating he's still worshipped.

Well, interesting to note since people are bringing up big hat Chaos Dwarfs. The creator of the Fabelzel Chaos Dwarfs got a C&D recently regarding his Chaos Dwarf sculpts from GW. They're big hat models for reference. So at the very least, GW seems to still care about their Chaos Dwarf IP. I don't want to get my hopes, but there does seem to a lot of activity around the Chaos Dwarfs. Much more than in years. Appearances on the Old World map, C&Ds for models, more lore references, a unit of "hobgobs" that specifically trade with the Chaos Dwarfs (if true). Perhaps something is stirring.

Wow! I love them already. They're pretty much exactly what I imagined aside from the head dress. Not sure about that part. I like big headwear, but only on my evil dwarfs . Overall though, just from this, I'm defecting from Chaos and joining the green tide. What I love most is that these definitely look more old-school than anything else. And I don't mean 6-8th edition fantasy old-school, I mean they look OLD-SCHOOL. Like oldhammer 3rd and earlier old-school. They give off these vibes, with only the hat making them stand-out if I were to slot them in with oldhammer orcs. Someone mentioned earlier in the thread newer AoS stuff is leaning towards classic Warhammer aesthetic like with the Soulblight stuff, and this definitely goes along with that idea.

I swear I wasn't being serious nor did I think that conversation would go anywhere. Also I know I'm completely biased, so it may just be my love for them, but I just can't see this picture as anything other than a hobgoblin-like hand holding a grenade. But what race do we know of that makes explosives and is known to have an association with greenskins of a certain type? Hmm...

This is about around the third or fourth time it seems Whitefang has indicated a connection between the new "faction" and Warclans. At this point, it just sounds like there is no new "army", but a sub-faction or expanded roster to Warclans. It makes sense when you think about it. Consider the rumors sound like multiple things: Hobbit/LotR style orcs called "Kruel Boyz". "Hobgobs" that trade with Chaos Dwarfs. A cauldron with a snotling and a shaman. Maybe it all sounds separate because it is. It's not a whole new army, just an update to Warclans with a bunch of new greenskins of different types. Minus Gitmob Grots as has been said multiple times. Kruel Boyz/Krool Boyz/King K. Rool Boyz/ however it will be spelled, makes a ton more sense when its not the name of a battletome but a unit or sub-allegiance.

Seems like we have confirmation on those rumors! A cauldron is a very specific piece that'd be hard to get right if you had just guessed. Honestly, the thing that excites me most is the hobgobs. I hope they can be battleline because I'd love a pure hobgob(lin) army. I also hope that their lore hints towards a Chaos Dwarf update soon either as Furnace Kings or something similar since most of Forgeworld's stuff is now OOP. Biggest fear is LoA goes into Legends in 3.0 without any sort of replacement and just remain in the lore like they were for the majority of fantasy before Tamurkhan.

Whitefang already commented on this. They're Kruel Boyz with a "K". And I think he's actually hinting they're expanding Orruk Warclans and not they're own faction? That's what it seemed like he was saying. Otherwise, the fact Cruel Boys was the name given before Whitefang even mentioned it, and then he corrected it, probably means most of these are at least somewhat true and just a little bit off.

So... Kruel Boyz? That sounds like GW is going to drop the hottest rap album of 2021.

As a Chaos Dwarf fan, I disagree . I want more than anything for the "hobgobs" unit to be real. We haven't had models since 5th edition and they're insanely expensive now to get even one. If these even remotely look like hobgoblins and only carry the spirit of them, that's fine, I'll take them even if we have to have them shoved into another army to get them lol.

Cruel Boyz could also be the second name. Like Bonereapers, Gitz, Mawtribes, Warclans, Gravelords, Realmlords, etc. So its the second name and we're missing the first one. [INSERT ADJECTIVE] Cruel Boyz.

Well, unless they stole the info from Whitefang, what they're saying now is pretty much what he's been saying the whole time and he's always been right. Just has a name now and a direct callout to" Hobgobs". Seems oddly specific enough that's it probably true. It's not vague references or descriptors but direct names now which is usually what we get the closer to a release/reveal we are. They're putting their names on it too, so we'd know in the future not to trust their sources if they're wrong. Still my guess is the army name is not Cruel Boyz but perhaps the name of a unit. Seems weirdly generic for a name in AoS lol.

People were saying this didn't really match a wolf's paw. Now it makes more sense if its not just a regular wolf.

Whitefang specifically mentioned the Hobbit when it came to the new faction. So to me this just sounds like just double-confirmation on that idea. Though having actual hobgobs in the army? Hmm... I still don't know about that, but really hope so. Even if just more mentions in lore, having more Chaos Dwarfs in the background at least keeps the dream alive of new plastic Chaos Dwarfs one day. Edit: Hashut worshipping dwarfs I mean. Not the Warcry ones like the Iron Golem and StD one . If I could get an update to my LoA army in plastic with a real battletome and not a PDF that'd be perfect.

Our new lanky greenskin friends perhaps? They do seem to worship big things going by the totems on Kragnos base. Morruk Creepers? Creepers could just be what Olag calls them though.

Well, again, hobgoblin is probably just a descriptor because they're thinner than orruks, bigger than grots. And Whitefang even brought the Hobbit to mind so even more so "hobgoblin" is just a general term used. They probably have no actual relation to the hobgoblins of old whatsoever. If we get new plastic Chaos Dwarfs, we already do have the background for them. They've been called the Furnace Kings and even the Furnace Kings of Azgorh in in AoS and they are Chaos-aligned as shown in the Bonereapers tome and other books they've been mentioned in. Hashut still exists too as described in the books and that White Dwarf article about the Salamander's Spine . That doesn't mean if they get an update they wouldn't just overwrite the existing lore or that they won't have actual hobgoblins in addition to this new swamp race. I'm pretty certain they'd still be Chaos though as the StD tome says they forge the armor for Chaos Warriors.

It's the old-school icon too which is cool. Never thought I'd see that again in a newer publication outside of Blood Bowl.

At the bottom of that article they posted another map "of Kislev as it appeared in the time of heroes like Louen Orc-Slayer." I noticed something very interesting to me personally. Chaos Dwarfs represented on the map .

Just because they're swamp-based doesn't mean its fimir nor does it exclude a greenskin race in general. Recall that the Old World had Boglars or swamp goblins, greenskins that lived in swamps alongside fimir. Plus this is AoS, so far the new races that are similar to Old World races have been re-interpreted. Whitefang's been right so far, as well as the other rumors. It's more than likely a new greenskinz race. The "leaner orruks". I said it before and I'll say it again, "Bretonnian" stormcast and "hobgoblins" are just terms from whoever saw them used as a general descriptor to get the point across. It's not literally that. If you saw a new race that had one or two visual cues similar to an older race, then yeah, you'd probably first describe them as "oh they look like x race". Remember, Idoneth were described as "Cthulhu elves" and Bonereapers as "Tomb Kings" in rumors too. When revealed, they didn't turn out to be at all as those names would imply, but if you saw that elf with the octopus around his head or that bonereaper cavalry and didn't have a clue as to what they really were, yeah, you'd call them "Cthulhu elves" and "Tomb Kings". I love fimir and if they got a re-release I'd start an army day one, but I don't think its them at all nor spiderfang. Pretty sure its the new greenskins race. These supposed "hobgoblins" probably have some of those mongolian style hats or look lanky, so the first thing the person who saw them thought of was "Oh they're hobgoblins".

Nuln was established by a merchant from Tilea, so Sigmar might have been at least aware of them. Though I don't think there's ever been any sort of interaction in the lore between the two. Tileans also worship Myrmidia and not Sigmar. Dogs of War, or rather, Regiments of Renown specifically, already do kinda of live on in the mercenary company rules we got before. If those were ever expanded into a tome of their own with units that crossed all the alliances similar to how the DoW represented many different races in addition to Tilea, that'd be neat.

Tilean Stormcast Dogs of War confirmed

They said in the preview article "you've seen all the new models for Soulblight Gravelords" so can't be that unless it's a Cursed City expansion that's not useable in Soulblight Gravelords for some reason, or released waaaay further down the line enough it's not considered part of this wave. Whitefang's reaction earlier in the thread seemed to suggest it was a wolf rider paw for the new Destruction army.

Not a cellphone in sight. Just the forces of Destruction living in the moment.