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So nearly every single flgs in my area has a very interesting meta of people.
Its to friendly.
And its not that they dont know how to build competitive lists, its just that they dont, and give the evil eye to anyone who does.
You brought a wraithknight? how can you do such a thing
you brought a whole riptide? How do you live with yourself
God forbid you bring more than 3 wave serpents
A void shield??? Were you born in Hell?
And so on and so forth.

Honestly its getting kind of tiring. Now im not saying that this means i want escalation at every tournament every game to make things unfair, but i want a challenge. A bring it all no judging everything allowed tourney even just once every 4 tournaments would be fine.
Not saying that i win every game now. But, sense i cant take my most competitive lists, and no one else does either, i have no idea how well i compare with the others.
I am really dieing for a chance to face someone with my most competitive list vs there most competitive list, but that just never happens anymore.
Is anyone else having this experience???

My FLGS is usually like this, but we have the occasional player who comes in and plays a competitive build. I usually try to snap him up for a game as often as possible. Other then that o play to the meta and try to limit myself to 1 or 2 OP units per game. For example the people in my Meta have a seething hatred of my Beastpack, which isn't even optimised, but because of how fast and deadly it is people are scared to death by it. As opposed to this, I won't use my Venom Spam but will instead use as boats and sometimes...Use Wyches for general combat (GASP!!).

If you want a competitive game, see if you can find someone of Dakka who lives near you and you can arrange to play with them. You can't force people to play your way because people will only play a game they both enjoy. I for example was the only person in the entire store for 3 weeks who would play against our local competitive players Screamrstar and managed to get 2 wins and a draw. Although to be fair I did pull out every bit of cheese I could afford, but we both enjoyed it. So in essence, the only way to play something that isn't the norm I your meta is to pre arrange it, good luck with that.

Another option would be to try to set up a “no holds barred” game with the regulars. They might be happy with fluffy fun lists, and don’t want to be the one who break the mood of the store. But lurking in their hearts, surely there is a devil waiting to get out. Challenge them to bring the most cheese-filled, competitive list they can. Just a one-off thing, an experiment.

Let them know they are doing you a favor. If you want to practice for a big tournament, you need experience against hard lists. You might want to suggest a net-list if you don’t think they can build something of the right caliber. “This list is doing well at the top tables, would you mind fielding/proxying it so I can see if my list is ready for the big leagues?”

I can’t speak for your local guys, but surely one of them should be up for it. And once you give someone the taste for more competitive play, who knows, they might like it. If not, you got at least one good game in.

Where I usually play it's kind of a 50/50 split between the really laid back guys who don't worry about getting the rules 100% correct and play orks or tyranids because they like to roll lots of dice/push lots of models around (let me make this clear right now, I am not saying that is a bad thing) vs the really serious in your face guys who play unpainted Tau/Eldar or hordes of thunderwolf cavalry represented by empty bases (these guys kind of annoy me but more from a politeness standpoint than a competitive standpoint). There's even one or two greybeards who trot out their beautifully painted and converted Eldar or Space Marines they've had since 3rd edition and amaze everybody (usually mopping the floor in the process since they've played the same army for 10 years and as such probably know at least a little bit about how they work).

I'm kind of in the middle. I play Tau, like I have since 3rd edition, but I mostly take the models I like the look of and try to go for "6/10" on the army optimization dial. Most of my army is matte black primer though since I don't actually spend that much time on this hobby due to a combination of being a student and not having free time/not having anyone to play against where I go to school for 8 months out of the year. I do have a couple painted squads though and I'm slowly improving that/adding in some basic conversions now I have a real army transporter...

Well IMO if it truly were a friendly FLGS, they wouldn't judge you for wanting to play competitively. Granted, if you give off the impression you want a laid back poos and goggles game, then bring the venom spam with serpent.spam eldar allies, that's on you. However as long as you and your opponent(s) both want to push competitive lists, I'd go so far as to say its wrong to frown upon and hold it against you.

That's how my store is. We have 2 or 3 hardcore guys, and the other 10 or so play what they like for fun (myself included). On occasion it can be difficult for the more intense guys to get a game, buy I'd say 9/10 times there's at least one person willing to leave their comfort zone so everyone can get their 40k on. The fluffy/lax crowd also realizes playing really competitive games aren't always bad experiences and.usually helps us develop as players. Now if someone brings a "surprise cheese" list to roflstomp say... a chaos slaanesh list, there is usually a lot of gsk talking after the offender leaves.

TLR A truly friendly store/community/meta will happily acconodate all types (bar TFG types). I haven't had an experience similar to the OPs, so the best advice I can offer is totry to find like minded or oopen minded players elsewhere.

Bring the baddest list you can create and challenge 2-3 (depending on how much you can take) players to face you at the same time, on the same board.

Yeah, I agree that starting with organizing a few local tournaments or starting a weekly league with prizes would be a good start. As would dragging your net wider, looking for more people to play with.

In any case, remember, this is an incompatibility problem.

BaalSNAFU wrote:
Well IMO if it truly were a friendly FLGS, they wouldn't judge you for wanting to play competitively.

Yes they're not friendly, they're snarky full of themselves HAAC douchebags.

BaalSNAFU wrote:
The fluffy/lax crowd also realizes playing really competitive games aren't always bad experiences and.usually helps us develop as players.

1000x this. With such attitude everywhere there would be no competitive / fluffy split in 40k that is stupid anyway.

That really doesn't sound like a friendly environment to me. If they really were all that laid back they wouldn't give a rats ass whether someone brought the best units to a game or not. I believe the term for this sort of thing is "Casual at all Costs". My meta is more or less very laid back but no one will bat an eye if you bring the cheese.

 Ailaros wrote:
Yeah, I agree that starting with organizing a few local tournaments or starting a weekly league with prizes would be a good start. As would dragging your net wider, looking for more people to play with.

Well i would be organizing tournaments and leauges (ive always wanted to) But there are already 2 guys who do it, and we have tournaments and things nearly every other week, and Allot of guys dont want to have a tournaments every week.
I have been trying to find other places to play, and we have a few different stores, but they all have the same people who go to them.
http://www.centexwar.com/warroom/
Thats our local forum, and litterally the whole thing is about 5-6 differnet guys arguing about our meta and how its to competitive. Literally 12-13 pages of the same argument, everywhere

My FLGS is exactly the opposite. "You don't like me bringing 2 Land Raiders in a 1,250 list, you poor, stupid person. You deserve to get tabled." I continue to play my goofily random Ork lists there just to annoy them. They usually have no choice if they want to get a game in because not that many people show since they changed 40K night from Friday to Wednesday. (No 13 year olds crowding every table and having to leave in the middle of the second turn is kinda nice though...)

We have a very large gaming group... about 90 people give or take and this is the stance that most take. Our campaigns and most games have restricting rules... limited flyers... no unit spamming... some rules removed from models... no FW, escalation, formations, dataslates, (now imp knights) etc...

I have about 3 people that do tourneys with me but the rest of the group won't play you if you show up with a comp list.

 TheCustomLime wrote:
That really doesn't sound like a friendly environment to me. If they really were all that laid back they wouldn't give a rats ass whether someone brought the best units to a game or not. I believe the term for this sort of thing is "Casual at all Costs". My meta is more or less very laid back but no one will bat an eye if you bring the cheese.

So anyone going to this store is CAACing themselves?

 Furyou Miko wrote:

 TheCustomLime wrote:
That really doesn't sound like a friendly environment to me. If they really were all that laid back they wouldn't give a rats ass whether someone brought the best units to a game or not. I believe the term for this sort of thing is "Casual at all Costs". My meta is more or less very laid back but no one will bat an eye if you bring the cheese.

So anyone going to this store is CAACing themselves?

No. Anyone who goes to that store and tries to shame people for bringing good units are CAACing themselves. And pretty much everyone else who goes there.

Interestingly, I think this is the first example I've seen of group think within a casual player setting.

To be honest that really isn't being friendly. Personally, I can't quite say. I like to kind of go for a "6/10" on optimization (as somebody above posted) with a lot of black deployed. I am painting but I just often lack the drive and spend far too long wasting away on a single model (that in the end only looks okay). Anyways, I'd probably have to deny a game against a competitive player simply because I play with a group of friends where we pre-plan when our games shall begin and I really only bring the units I am planning on using. I personally would feel like my list against a competitive one wouldn't really be fun for the either of us as it wouldn't be challenging which, as I see it, is the primary joy of competitive gaming.

 Roci wrote:
We have a very large gaming group... about 90 people give or take and this is the stance that most take. Our campaigns and most games have restricting rules... limited flyers... no unit spamming... some rules removed from models... no FW, escalation, formations, dataslates, (now imp knights) etc...

I have about 3 people that do tourneys with me but the rest of the group won't play you if you show up with a comp list.

Sounds like a horrible place where you try to force people to play the game you want.

 hotsauceman1 wrote:

 Roci wrote:
We have a very large gaming group... about 90 people give or take and this is the stance that most take. Our campaigns and most games have restricting rules... limited flyers... no unit spamming... some rules removed from models... no FW, escalation, formations, dataslates, (now imp knights) etc...

I have about 3 people that do tourneys with me but the rest of the group won't play you if you show up with a comp list.

Sounds like a horrible place where you try to force people to play the game you want.

Not going to lie, that was my first thought, but I assume the restrictions were voted into place by a majority and could be relaxed for certain games if both parties agree.

I mean I'd feel really sad if the place I was playing at had a blanket "no forge world" policy that couldn't be changed. I think their Barracuda and XV9 models are beautiful. They're also good but not broken (I don't think they are anyway. I haven't been able to test out my "mini Shadowstar" yet.).

An idea, and one I've personally got a lot of use out of, is simply showing up on the gaming group night with a painting table and a brush, sit at an empty place in the building and work on some miniatures while simply talking to the crowd. I realize this might not be possible depending on the layout of that particular FLGS, but you'd be surprised what chatting up people will do.

I consider myself a casual wargamer who is a hyper competitive person at heart, which I realize is kind of an oxymoron. (Some argue I'm that without the oxy, herf derf.) I don't really enjoy super HxC lists because it changes the feel of the gameplay drastically to what I call "competitive Yahtzee". So, I don't really play against hyper cheese nor own it myself. That said, I also want to maintain friendships with the guys down at my store and we've got players of all shapes and sizes and personalities. One of my favorite people and good friends is a very competitive guy and to let him know I didn't want to abuse his good-will for humoring me with less competitive lists to bring a list "I can't beat." And he did, and he stomped me, and it was a lot of fun.

I think a lot of it is just knowing what you're in for ahead of time. If you approached someone and plainly stated you were interested in a really competitive list to play against, I think you'd be more likely to find someone who'd oblige.

 TheCustomLime wrote:
That really doesn't sound like a friendly environment to me. If they really were all that laid back they wouldn't give a rats ass whether someone brought the best units to a game or not. I believe the term for this sort of thing is "Casual at all Costs". My meta is more or less very laid back but no one will bat an eye if you bring the cheese.

This. OP, you're making the popular mistake that "friendly" is about your choice of army list instead of your attitude. What you described there isn't a case of being "too friendly", it's the equivalent of a guy screaming at you about how casual he is and how you need to take the game less seriously, and then throwing your Riptide across the room.

OP your profile says you are in Austin,TX ,but it doesn't seem very Texan like to not want to be competitive. Remind those grots where they are!

Seriously though, that sounds kind of lame of them to treat you or others like that. I am lucky and the two FLGS I play at have a well balanced group of players. I would venture to say we have only 2-3 people who are casual only. The rest will throw down if you want to go hard, or fluff it up and go casual if you want. I am in the more competitive group, so i always make sure to ask in a pick up game how they want to roll. For tournaments it is basically an unwritten rule that if its below 1500 and no SC, then it is pretty casual. Anythingelse and it's crumpin time!

Mortikye wrote:
OP your profile says you are in Austin,TX ,but it doesn't seem very Texan like to not want to be competitive. Remind those grots where they are!

Seriously though, that sounds kind of lame of them to treat you or others like that. I am lucky and the two FLGS I play at have a well balanced group of players. I would venture to say we have only 2-3 people who are casual only. The rest will throw down if you want to go hard, or fluff it up and go casual if you want. I am in the more competitive group, so i always make sure to ask in a pick up game how they want to roll. For tournaments it is basically an unwritten rule that if its below 1500 and no SC, then it is pretty casual. Anythingelse and it's crumpin time!

Lol it is Austin, and our moto is Keep Austin Weird, and thats exactly what our meta is.
Thanks for the replies everyone. Seams like its not normal which is what i was scared of