Thanks, MVBrandt. I appreciate that.
In thinking about this, perhaps it is actually the term "thunder hammer" that is tripping people up. I'm a contract lawyer, so I'm used to sentences that are packed with defined terms. I mention that just so you will have some context when I say that I read "Foehammer is a thunder hammer that may be used as a ranged weapon with the following profile" as:
Foehammer disallows armor saves by any model wounded by it in close combat, doubles the user's Strength (up to a maximum of 10), always delivers its attacks at Initiative 1 (ignoring Initiative bonuses from special rules, wargear, etc.), reduces the Initiative of any model wounded but not killed by it to 1 until the end of the next player's turn, against vehicles with no Initiative value inflicts a crew shaken result any time it inflicts any damage result, and may be used as a ranged weapon with the following profile:
Range: 6" S:10 AP:1 Assault 1
That is the exact same sentence, except that I have replaced "thunder hammer" with the rules for how a thunder hammer actually works, taken from page 42. That is not any different to me, structurally, than this:
The D-cannon always wounds on a roll of 2+, and on a roll to wound of a 6 it inflicts instant death on the victim (regardless of its Toughness value). Against targets with an Armour Value, the D-cannon always inflicts a glancing hit on a roll of 3 or 4 and a penetrating hit on a roll of 5 or 6. It has the following profile:
Range: G24" S:X AP:2 Heavy 1, Blast
Both cases have "the following profile," and both cases have written rules that are not in the profile, or indicated by the profile in the slightest way. You might guess that you have to look up what a D-cannon wounds on, given that its Strength is listed as X. But nothing in the profile remotely suggests that a D-cannon inflicts Instant Death on a 6 - and yet it does.