At level 8, really, you're not likely to have any good hammer or axe skills - in Prophecies, anyways.
For hammers, assuming Prophecies (all I have), you probably only have Mighty Blow, a standard +damage skill. Axes are a bit better off, though, with Cyclone Axe and Executioner's Strike. There's a couple more relatively early post-Searing skills (Penetrating Blow for axes seems quite nice when you go Into The Breach, and Dismember at Piken Square causes Deep Wound, which is always nice), but my own Warrior (my first GW character) is level 11 and has yet to get any decent Hammer skills (have exactly 2: Mighty Blow and Hammer Bash) and the axes seen so far have all been significantly weaker than the swords, so there's no incentive to switch from the Sever Artery/Gash combo (well, gotta have a regular skill for those damned stone elemental types

yet...
Maybe there's some decent hammer/axe skills that could be unlocked (and then bought from skill trainers) earlier than in PvE by participating in PvP to get faction?
Dunno about the other campaigns...