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Hi I am new and i am trying to set up a Salamander army and i wanted to add a Chapter Master but i am not sure about the model. FYI i have no idea what i am doing.... my idea was a Chapter master with a thunder hammer and a ranged weapon of some kind and my concern is how to represent that in a model. The 'Space Marine Commander' on the GW site looks like a good choice but from what i seen it dose not come with a hammer option.
First is this a good option for a Salamander Chapter Master or should he be more ranged?
Second if i get the 'Space Marine Commander' how hard would it be to use a hammer from 'Space Marine Thunder Hammers'. it looks like they both use the left arm so it may be easy not sure.

Welcome to Dakka!

The 'Space Marine Commander' set is meant for Captains and Chapter Masters, and is very good. Not as ornate as some of the more recent SM commander models, but it gives you a ton of options. Off the top of my head, you get:

Left Arm: Power Fist, Lightning Claw, Power Sword, Chainsword
Right Arm: Plasma Pistol, Bolt Pistol, Combi-Plasma, Combi-Melta, Combi-Flamer, Bolter

It's a very cool model, and has the bonus of being compatible with pretty much every Space Marine kit going.

As for a Thunder Hammer, it should work with that kit, but I think Ebay is probably a better bet. There's a few TH out there from various kits, such as Death Company, Grey Knights and various Terminators (you'd need to chop it off and glue it to a Power Armour hand), so if you do a serarch for 'Space Marine Thunder Hammer' something should come up that costs a couple of dollars at most.

If you're taking a Thunder Hammer, you'll definitely want Artificer Armour (you don't need to worry about modelling this, it's just a stat upgrade to a 2+ save) and possibly a Storm Shield (again, one should come up on Ebay) to make sure he stays alive long enough to swing. If you want a gun, though, you could give him a Combi-Melta, for a fairly good chance to do major damage to a vehicle.

Chapter Masters are a great unit, and fun to play with. I regularly field Tu'Shan, Chapter Master of the Salamanders

First things first: Chapter Masters need a delivery mechanism.
If he spends the whole game sitting in your back field and not fighting anything, then he is a waste of points... and worse, no fun to use! You need either an assault transport (Land Raider or Storm Raven), or to give him a bike or a jump pack. In a pinch, you can put him in a drop pod or rhino/razorback. Of these choices, the bike is by far the best - it gives him incredible mobility, and buffs his toughness up to 5 (which allows him to avoid instant death from everything but S10 attack). The jump pack is a reasonable choice for him too, especially if you don't want to kitbash a bike model - all you have to do is use a regular Chapter Master model, and attach a jump pack from an assault marine kit. You can also magnetize the jump pack, so you can re-convert him into a regular footslogger (if you want to display him in a case, this is a good choice).

Second thing: what equipment to give him?
He's very good at shooting, but does not have access to very good ranged weapons (the best gun he can take is the Primarch's Wrath, which is sort of underwhelming). So really, the only way to build him is as a melee monster. Here, you have some very good choices: Thunder Hammers and Power Fists are both excellent (if you can't find a model with a thunder hammer, a power fist will do nicely), and you also have access to the absurdly powerful Burning Blade (a great choice if your model comes with a sword), or the Teeth of Terra (a good choice if your model comes with a chainsword). Remember that Salamanders get Master Crafted weapons on their characters, so you'll be re-rolling one dice to hit (a really excellent buff for the chapter master).

The CM comes with a 4++ by default, but you will almost always want to buff that up to a 3++ with a storm shield, or with the Shield Eternal (which counters instant death - IMO, this is mandatory if you're not using a bike, since you get instakilled by S8 weapons otherwise).

He also has a one-time-use Orbital Strike, but it has a catch: he needs to stand still to use it. UNLESS you're on a bike or in Terminator Amour - give that some thought.

With regards to armor, you almost always want to use Artificer Armor. It will allow you to ride in rhinos, take up 1 less space in transports, and will allow you to perform sweeping advances (important, as you will often win by sweeping opponents rather than outright killing them). If you are using the Primarch's Wrath, you'll want a bike or terminator amour (for relentless). If you want to ride in a land raider, remember that you can't embark if you have a jump pack. If you ride in a Stormraven, remember that the earliest you can assault is turn 3. If you use terminator armor, remember that you can't embark in rhinos, but you can ride along in drop pods.

A note on tactics: 3++ makes you insanely durable against high-powered weapons, and your 2+ armor makes you mostly immune to potshots from small-arms... but if you sit in front of an IG or Tau gunline, and you have to roll 20 armor saves, you're going to roll a few 1's and die. Be bold, but not reckless.

Here's a very powerful chapter master build for you to consider (you'll see this used often in tournaments). Your friends will hate you if you use it:
Chapter Master
Bike
Artificer Armor
Thunder Hammer
Shield Eternal
250pts

That's a lot of points, but the Chapter Master is not a "budget" unit. Don't skimp on his equipment - give him the tools he needs to crush his enemies.

The Vanguard and Sternguard veteran boxes are a very source for bits to make HQs. The minis you can make out of those boxes make some of the old captains look like rookies just out of the scout company.

Rather then pay $20 for the GW thunder hammer pack or going to e-bay for the individual bits, think about the $40 Vanguard Vet box. This gives you 5 marines, and pretty much every CC weapon you could want. Pics of the sprues are on GW’s site, so you can see what you are getting. Even if you never field them as VVs, the bits will enhance your sergeants and let you put together shiny HQs.

The commander box is a little dated, but has some fun bits in there. It’s not a bad buy. If you are just getting into the game, I might recommend the Strike Force box. While expensive, it does get you a lot of units at a not bad discount (even direct from GW) including a commander.

As for what gear to give him for play on the tabletop, that depends a lot on the rest of your army. He is a CC monster, so should probably be geared for that. How you balance offense and defense is up to personal preference. Magnets are your friend here. Delivery system is also a big question. Bikes are quite nice, but require a bit of dedication in army building. Jump packs can work, as can drop pods and land raiders. How you gear up your CM needs to consider how he’s getting into CC.

The old starter set, dark vengemnge has a good basic HQ to act as your chapter master until you can get the proper fancy multi part set.

Bit basic and limited on pose/weapons but for a stated army its a cheaper alternetive


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Not flashiest, or most powerful but serve ypou until you can get aone of the ones above. Plus relic blade, armour, various upgrades even that one can be a close combat killer.

Depends on your budget

Cheapest to consider i think is just ebaying bits to cobble one together.

If budget is not an issue or you will plan on making a bunch of cool characters, consider getting both a sternguard and vanguard vet squad. those two kits will make 10 unique characters (though 5 will have jump packs which you might as well pawn off)

Also consider forgeworld for your character building needs.

Thunder Hammers look awesome and are certainly fluffy for Salamanders, but I would never actually use it as a Thunder Hammer ruleswise as its a complete waste of the Chapter Masters Initiative of 5, use it as a Relic Blade instead.

 Gashrog wrote:
Thunder Hammers look awesome and are certainly fluffy for Salamanders, but I would never actually use it as a Thunder Hammer ruleswise as its a complete waste of the Chapter Masters Initiative of 5, use it as a Relic Blade instead.

Not if you shove on a Shield ethernal to go clobber some fools.

 Desubot wrote:

 Gashrog wrote:
Thunder Hammers look awesome and are certainly fluffy for Salamanders, but I would never actually use it as a Thunder Hammer ruleswise as its a complete waste of the Chapter Masters Initiative of 5, use it as a Relic Blade instead.

Not if you shove on a Shield ethernal to go clobber some fools.

Or pair it with a lightning claw for an all-offense build.

 Desubot wrote:

 Gashrog wrote:
Thunder Hammers look awesome and are certainly fluffy for Salamanders, but I would never actually use it as a Thunder Hammer ruleswise as its a complete waste of the Chapter Masters Initiative of 5, use it as a Relic Blade instead.

Not if you shove on a Shield ethernal to go clobber some fools.

Chapter Masters aren't cheap, in part because their point cost reflects the advantage of being I5, paying those points for I5 then paying a lot more points to get rid of the I5 then paying a lot more points on top to make sure the guy lives long enough to use his I1 is hardly an efficient use of points.

 Gashrog wrote:
Thunder Hammers look awesome and are certainly fluffy for Salamanders, but I would never actually use it as a Thunder Hammer ruleswise as its a complete waste of the Chapter Masters Initiative of 5, use it as a Relic Blade instead.

AP3 is a harsh downside - arguably much more of a downside that hitting at I1. If you know you're not going to face 2+ armour, then a Relic Blade is a decent choice to pair with a storm shield (since it's two-handed). You'll slaughter entire squads if marines like they're nothing. But having AP2 lets you engage heavily armored targets, and Concussive means that something like a Daemon Prince will only strike first during the very first assault phase (you can also be cheeky and take a grav pistol). And in any case, it's very unlikely that a properly equiped Chapter Master will actually die in the first round of combat - he has to fail four 3++ saves before he goes down.

You could always take The Burning Blade and have the best of all worlds.

Its also a major waste to watch ap3 hits go chumped by 2+ save.

its different strokes for different folks but i prefer my chapter master living till initiative 1 and negating armor 2, better chance at vehicles, and MC.

And a Shield is near mandatory for the amount you end up spending for him

Anyway I can see benefits for both, especially dpending on local meta