Actually, Warmongers resemble combat griffons much more. They retaliate. And it's quite difficult to kill enraged, buffed Warmongers at the end of a battle. And there are few really good archers in the game, and they gave Cyclops the ability to throw goblins just for fun.
And they don't throw very effectively. Cyclops in Heroes 4 are a completely devastating unit, with an area-of-effect attack.