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So I'm a fluff/fun list player, I take units I like, and are semi-useful, but nothing near tournment caliber. The meta I used to play favored this kind of play, fun over sheer power, but my new meta I've moved into is not like this. and now I'm stuck with a fun army based on a medium to light infantry meta to a competitive meta where anything less than a 3+ is unheard of, and assult (the bread and butter of my old meta, is unheard of. I'm getting very frustrated, as I have to struggle for every kill while my assult based troops and mowed off the field by gunlines. What do I do?

Sounds like you need to talk to those in your area to see if anyone is interested in less competitive games. Otherwise change your play style. I really can't think of any other alternatives for you aside from finding a different place to play, assuming there is one within an hour's radius or so.

 troa wrote:
Sounds like you need to talk to those in your area to see if anyone is interested in less competitive games. Otherwise change your play style. I really can't think of any other alternatives for you aside from finding a different place to play, assuming there is one within an hour's radius or so.

That's pretty much the options:

1. Convince the meta to change.
2. Change to fit the meta.
3. Find a different meta.
4. Stop playing

I suppose we can add an additional option:

5. Split up your army and play solitaire games against yourself.

The same thing happened in my area. We have a few representatives going to BAO after doing some more local tournament circuits associated with Frontline gaming so obviously my local store is their testing grounds and the power level has skyrocketed to the point that it drove me out of the game as my preferred armies and styles were quickly torn apart with no hope of recovering.

Now, on one hand, I've adapted my playstyles to make up for my armies being substandard. My CSM can win a game because I can simply play in a way that abuses the victory points systems. I don't find that fun, but it does work. My Nids do the same thing. Having better opponents makes you a better player.

To have fun in a game, I need to be talking with players and set up games beforehand. Tell them that I'm bringing a list that could never see play at a tournament and we can work from there. I just did this this week for my first game in more than a few months.

Other option is to try to shift the meta yourself. One of the representatives going to BAO is a good player with nothing but competitive lists. So myself and some other more fluffy players who have entirely gone over to Infinity, give him constant crap for 'murdering the fluff'. Often with comparisons to squishing bunnies. It's all in fun and he knows, and we tell him directly, that there is nothing wrong with being a competitive player using competitive lists but we all know that he 'couldn't handle being fluffy even if he tried'.

30k is starting to get some steam too in my area, which is actually balanced much better, so I'm looking forward to getting y own stuff up and running on that front as well.

My meta is pretty casual. My lists tend to be competitive, and even when I play casual lists I have to fight the urge to treat every game like the last chopper out of Saigon is on the line.

To keep people from hating me for being a douche, I sometimes try to handicap my lists by 10-25%, or force myself to take garbage units.

You can try lower points games. Due to the nature of 40k, smaller games get the balance closer than larger ones (if nothing else, it cuts down on spamming one undercosted unit, so it narrows the gap).

I find 750 pts games and combat patrol to be fairly balanced, with only a few fringe outliers compared to massive 2k point games, and even the outliers can be mitigated and beaten (I had a plague marine list being beaten by grots. GROTS!) so that might be worth looking into.

Adapt or perish pretty much. Find others in the group more after what you enjoy the most from it. talk it out and make friends etc, or find ways to make what you like work and fit into what you're coming against.