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How came it in the evolutions of the games that goblins play so diverse a role in Warhammer Fantasy and so limited a role in 40K?

Because they can make a stand against other creatures in Warhammer Fantasy Battle Game, but they didnt realy became better in 40k, but other races did become stronger. So gobbo's cannot make a stand against anything, actually.

Would you argue that a Rebel argot addendum to the Ork Codex is impossible?

I've had grotswarms take down all sorts of stuff over the years, but the point is fairly valid nonetheless..

Most of the kooky inventions and tamed big things (spiders, doomdivers, fanatics et al) are goblin in WHFB

Most of the cool stuff in 40k is ork made, by mekboyz. It may involve a grot (like killakanz) but the only real all-grot unit with cool stuff are the artillery batteries, which are so-so (and mekbuilt again )

The position of insane tinkerer is not taken by gobbos in the future. I think there should be more gobbo-related stuff

Would heavy weapons be outside the fluff for Grots?

A little bit.On a battlefield that belongs to the Ork at the end,the big lads ( nobz / lootas / flashgitz etc. ) will have taken all the best gear for themselves.That just leaves the small and / or broken stuff for the gretchin.

Aren't 40K-grots a lot dumber (like tech/mekwise, grots are pretty clever when it comes to surviving) than the fantasy goblins too? I might be all wrong on that one, just the impression that I got.

They definitely have a gift for bookkeeping.

AFAIK WHFB gobbos are pretty ok in battle.
40k grots are good in loading weapons.

The 40K grots are still working on the WHFB number system, which means that 3 is prevalent as a stat. In 40K, 4 is the more prevalent stat (thanks to MEQs), which makes grots soft, squish, and easy to kill.

But I could still see a huge swarm of them beating face.

I think goblins are more cunning and sneaky than anything and in the end that isnt enough when your basically slaves the the orks. Orks could make their own stuff and they are better fighters, why keep them? It would make sense for the orks to abandon them at a certain point because they simply arnt that useful.

Grots are useful!

For minesweeping and screening. Remember, Grots might seem small, but they're still basically about as tall as a short human. Using grots to determine the weakest point of an enemy line (IE, the one which takes the longest to kill all the grots) is standard Ork tactics.