The Star Dragons chapter of Space Marines is listed with very little info on the Lexicanum Online. My good friend John has been playing Warhammer 40K since the days when it first came out as Rogue Trader. Now weather this was a chapter that originally existed or was one that John grabbed the name of himself or read about, it doesn't really matter.
What does matter is that John has been running his Space Marines for at least 20 years. He has some very original and older (vintage) models. I've gone so far as to tease John about the age of his models and am in the process of making "classic license plates" tags for them, each bearing the name of the transport and/or tank.
As the Space Marines and thier codex evolved, so too has John's play style and army, but the majority of his models have remained the same. Now time is wearing on the army and they are in need of an upgrade and newer or at least a touched up paint scheme.
John currently is deployed in Kuwait with the Navy and the SeeBees. During his departure, I was able to aquire an old original Mk1 Land Raider. It took quite a while to seek this model out, but I finally found it. I was saving it as a "welcoming home" gift for him, but since he's been actively seeking out more vintage rhinos and such, I had to let the cat out of the bag.
So, the Star Dragons will continue to remain an older, loyal chapter of Space Marines, much of their equipment will be older in vintage but just as effective as the newer marine players. In fact, John is seeking out another "Thud Gun" to add to his other one, that serves as the Thunderfire Cannon in the newer Codex.
What John has brought to our gaming club at Berks-PA Gaming is experience, knowledge, humor, mentorship, and sportsmanship. John has mentored myself as well as others in tournament style play as well as heavily emphasised the "Army Fluff" and backgrounds and story writing into our hobby. Matching the aspects of the Hobbies that Jervis Johnson wrote in White Dwarf this past year: Collecting, Modeling/sculpting, Paitning, Competition, and Socialization, I can say that when I look at my "pie" it shows all aspects of the hobby in equal parts.
Now as time and games have gone on, there is a HUGE rivalry between my Ork Warlord Krogg Satogg and his Captian Bruno. This has only served to strengthen our friendship and generate even more smack-talk between us.
One nice thing about this hobby of Warhammer 40,000 is that even though Games Workshop comes out with newer stuff, at least most of your models will have some longevity, as evidenced by the Star Dragons, still taking the fight to the Galaxy for over 20 years!
