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I'm looking for an answer to fight DE with nids. This is the list i've come up with and want some opinions.

Hive Tyrant w/ Wings, 2 TL Devs., Hive Commander 285

Troops: 7 Genestealers w/ Broodlord(scthing talon) 160
10 Genstealers 140
11 Guants 55
Tervigon AG, Poison, Catalyst(Feel no Pain) 195

elite 2 Zoanies in a Pod 160
2 Zonies in a Pod 160
7 Ymargl 161

2 Trygon Primes 480
1 Trygon 200

I figure reserve everything and drop in. I realize that DE will probably turbo boost or pop smoke turn 2, but i believe there is enough shots to at least silence 4 boats when things arrive. I just don't think hive guard are the answer to beating DE and i want to try something new.

Might get more out of putting Hive guard in those spores. More shots, range and Toughness (<--- very imortant as zoans will get ID in pretty well any failed save from those ravagers) also the extra points you'd save you could try putting twin linked deathspitters on the spores.

Since DE armor is paper, you dont need the heavy punch of Zoan lances.

first off, do you know what type of de list you opponent usually runs?

Ok, it's going to hurt to hear this, but your chances of survival are not good (unless your opponent is no good with DE). The gene stealers will bit be fast enough to catch anything, and with a save of 5+ they will be eaten alive by splinter fire. So if you have the models a large group of hormagaunts may be better, faster, and will have more survivability.

As for the elites, that's a mess. Zoeys are very unreliable, and really what do you need str 10 lance for anyways? Hive guards, 3, 4, even six need to be in that list. Hide them behind something solid, put some slugs into venoms as the approach. Also, against de, your going to want a venomthrope. Cover save, think about it. You'll be hammered with so much rifle fire in your troops you'll want that save. And the str 8 ap2 lance, will decimate that flyrant, hiveguard (that you should use) you'll want the cover.

If it were me I would run a footslogging tyrant, with guards, 2+ save, and prime. Heavy venom cannon (open topped get some lashwhips, and remember that gaurds will confer cover to the tyrant. Some guards, a venomthrope, lots of guants, those awesome tervigons, and trygon like you have them

I like the heavys, the 2 primes will give so ravagers a run for thier money.

Dark Eldar don't have smoke launchers.

As a general rule any weapons that can
A: pop AV 10/11 armour.
B: Can reasonably wound T3 units and has an AP of 5 or better.
will serve you well in overall. Apart from Haemonculi (T4), Wrack (T4), Grotesque (T5) and Talos (T7) units, everything is Toughness 3, and very little has an invunerable save. And what does is usually a 6+ invun, though most units have or acquire Feel No Pain.

The transports are all AV10 all round and will likely have a 5+ invun save (flickerfield).
Of the heavy stuff, the Ravager is an 11/11/10 vehicle, the Razorwing is 10/10/10 and the Voidraven is 11/11/10.

On the reverse, you're going to be facing down a LOT of AP5, 4+ Poison shots and Str 8 AP2 lance fire, high toughness models aren't going to count for much outside of CC, and even then there's several cc units that are toting poison as well.

I'm not actually sure what nid stuff there is but hopefully this will let you know what you're dealing with sufficently.

Hive tyrant + kalbalite squads = dead hive tyrant

I just don't believe that hive guard are not a good option for the elite section. If you do the math, it takes only 36 poison shots to kill a unit of hive guard. With only a 24 inch range, the have to move up the board to get at the DE. They are not going to make it. Yes, they might down a boat, but you are not maneuvering and putting pressure on your opponent. Once you start reacting to your opponent, your done. I've seen a few DE vs. Nid games and read a few Battle reports, and the nids are just targets for a shooting gallery, especially the footsloogin armies. Just read mercers latest report, it was a massacre. I realize that the nid list wasn't optimized, but it could not do anything to his list. I'm a very experienced nid player who has won tournies in my area with them and i'm trying to figure a way out to beat dark elder. I've played them a couple of times and i'm looking into tweeking this list to where they will be able to compete with them. I realize that there is a major up hill fight to beating dark elder, but the walking across the board list for nids is suicide. My belief is if you put the pressure on the DE player, and get the drop on them, your chances of winning will increase.

If you have the ability to take long range shooting / short range shooting on a platform fast enough to get in range to pop the vehicles, use that.

You then need the speed or resilience to close the gap before they can poison you to death.

I should try ebay for a cheap 'nid dex, as it is I don't really know what units are available to you so just giving general advice, and Tyranids is a book I've wanted for a while soo.... *goes to ebay*