It is probably a conversion used in a studio army that the photographer mistook as being a standard model.
Fan of Fuggles | Derailment of the Wolfpack of Horsemen | In girum imus nocte et consumimur igni
This happened a few years ago with the box changeover (here at least) - I went into my local and saw the box with the above Sgt and asked the redshirt "hey, do you get a thunder hammer in the kit now?" and he was all "uhhhh, no?" "Well there's one on the box". Cue pulling one open, double checking the sprues then frantic phone calls to area managers and pulling all the boxes off the shelf. Oops
That's a finecast Thunder Hammer from the Iron Hands upgrade pack. Note the AdMech logo in the middle of the hammer, as well as the dual cables. Compare it to the one carried by the sergeant in the Iron Hands upgrade photo.
[url]http://www.games-workshop.com/en-GB/Iron-Hands-Tactical-Squad-Upgrade-Pack[/url]
Yeah, it shouldn't be in the Assault Squad photo, because you don't get it in the kit.
AUT TACE AUT LOQUERE MELIORA SILENTIO
Although you can get plastic thunderhammers in the vangaurd vet kit now. I bought one just to have extra cool bits to sprinkle into my assault squads.
I vote that we should all buy an assault squad or two and then test their no quibbles refund policy...
It's not a refund policy. It's a return policy. There is a difference.
It's from the Space Marine Thunder Hammers Finecast kit. I used the same kit when it was in pewter to convert a vanguard squad.
[url]http://www.games-workshop.com/en-CA/Space-Marine-Thunder-Hammers[/url]
So...not sure what you're getting at their with 'testing' their policies. They're hardly being dishonest showing one of their products being used in conjunction with another.
Armies Played (in order of acquisition)
Crons, SW, SM, Tau, 1k Sons, IG, Nids, BA, DE
The dishonesty stems from the fact they don't tell you that. The thunder hammer appears in 2/3 of the pictures on [url=http://www.games-workshop.com/en-GB/Space-Marine-Assault-Squad]the Assault Squad's store page[/url] and the implication is therefore that it comes with one. The text underneath does nothing to tell you otherwise, only saying "a host of options," unlike FW's Dreadnoughts and Titans whose entries make it very clear the arms are sold separately.
This falls under "misleading illustrations" wrt false advertising.