The Unforgiven: Building a better thunder hammer

Faith is the sturdiest armor. Hatred the surest weapon. 

I have been playing a Deathwing army for a long time, starting sometime back in the 3rd edition of 40k. Since then, terminators have changed quite a bit, but it was in 2008, with the release of the 5th edition Space Marine codex, that they really saw a boost in their combat prowess. I am speaking, of course, about the storm shield, and its boost to a 3++ (invulnerable) save. For the first time ever, it was easy to get an invulnerable save that had a greater than 50% chance of succeeding (it was, as they say, the new black).  It took awhile, but eventually the Dark Angels got an FAQ that improved their shield to that of their Ultramarine counterparts. I was thrilled, and immediately purchased a box of assault terminators, intent on adding a new unit to my Deathwing force. But after carefully trimming all of the pieces, I stopped. Having the models in my hands, I finally convinced myself of something that had been troubling me for years, their thunder hammers were simply too big. So I resolved to convert them, but nothing really seemed like a suitable base for new hammers, and the terminators sat in their box. Now, many years later, after playing some games of 7th edition, I realized my army would really benefit from a few thunder hammer/storm shield terminators (THSS).  Adam and I began to discuss possible ways to make some improved (in our opinion) THSS terminators.

Coming into the project, we knew that we wanted to rework the thunder hammers and storm shields that are commonly seen on terminators. While we love the look of the classic thunder hammers and storm shields, the thunder hammers, in particular, are comically oversized (as with most things Games Workshop). The heads of the plastic thunder hammers are literally the size of a Space Marine’s torso. Surprisingly, the solution to the thunder hammer problem was found in one of the newer Dark Angel plastic kits, the Ravenwing Black Knights squadron. Each of the Knights is equipped with a hand weapon that looks a bit like a pickaxe, called a corvus hammer. Amazingly, the hammers almost look like hand weapons, rather than massive hammers that even a genetically enhanced superhuman would struggle to wield effectively. To distance the weapon from a pickaxe we flattened its pointed edge and reversed the its facing. The back end of the corvus hammer looks pretty similar to war hammers of the middle ages, with the grooved striking surface. With the head of the hammer much smaller, we realized that we needed to reduce the size of the power generator on the hammer (otherwise the it looked really strange). To do this we extended the haft of the hammer and added a generator taken from one of the Grey Knight Zweihänder force swords. We think that the effect of the reduced hammer size is striking. Now, it looks like the weapon is something that could be wielded with martial excellence and grace, more befitting of a Space Marine veteran, rather than a steel I-beam being swung with reckless abandon by a lumbering oaf.

Side-by-side, our new thunder hammer is far smaller than the stock GW one.

Interestingly, even though the project was spawned years ago with that 5th edition FAQ and a box of plastic assault terminators, we ended up not using the plastic ones from back then (I suspect they are in a box somewhere…).  Instead, we decided to use domed, agile Tartaros terminator suits (also very reminiscent of the Contemptor pattern dreadnaughts). We made very few modifications to the armor, save the addition of a small dagger at the terminator’s waist (and some greenstuff work to fix all of the mold shifts on the model…).

We decided to use Tartaros terminator armor for these THSS terminators to add some variety to the Deathwing army.

The first THSS terminator in all of his grim glory.

For the terminator’s storm shield, we decided it would be neat to make use of the broad boarding shields seen on the Horus Heresy Breacher Siege Squads. Since the shields were made for standard space marines, we had to shave away the marine hand and replace it with that of a terminator. With the shield in place, we sculpted on a few parchments with greenstuff. We used the heads of pins as nails to fasten them to the shield, adding a bit of the grim nihilism prevalent in Dark Angel imagery to the model. Although we could have added more details like this to the model to further convey this notion, we decided against it, to distance him from the command squad we have been working on.

Although a bit of a pain, replacing the power armor hand on the breacher shield was well worth it.

The new THSS terminator compared to the banner bearer from the command squad (this is first time we have shown the newly created shrine on the banner bearer!).

Thinking back on it now, it seems fitting that the first conversion for the year on Between the Bolter and Me is another member of the Deathwing, mirroring what we did last year with the Deathwing Banner Bearer. Overall, we are really pleased with how the model turned out. With only a few small changes, the entire feel and atmosphere of the model changed drastically. Hopefully you like what we have done with the model; any comments or suggestions are welcome, however! Now we just need to make 4 more members for the squad!

-Adam and Eric Wier