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Hello, first of all this isnt so much a list for a battle review so its not really kitted or pointed out except WYSWYG. This is a list of what I have as far as models and my goal out of this post is to get suggestions on how to move forward. what models should I get to make this more viable for competitive play.. Ill add my thoughts at the end.

The models I HAVE,
HQ:
Brood lord
2X Flying Hive Tyrant with magnetized arm sets
Troops:
8 Genestealers
10 Devourer gaunts 1 strangleweb
Elite:
2X Lictor
The Red Terror
Fast:
8 Gargoyles
3 mucolid spores
5 Raveners
13 spore mines
Heavy:
1 Biovore
1 Tyranofex with Rupture cannon
Fortification :
Sporocyst

If I kit everything how I want it it comes out about 1700 points on battlescribe. miasma cannon and LW/BS on Warlord Hive Tyrant and Twin link Devouerer and rending claws on the other. raveners I would give spine fists. For hive fleet rules personally i like the idea of survive ability and strong multi wound units. So I was drawn to Jormungandr and Leviathan. for warlord I like adaptive biology but with enough convincing im willing to abandon it.

As far as my thoughts on what I should do... I wouldnt be asking If I were sure what to do lol. but looking things over and reading the special rules for red terror and brood lord as well as their smaller kin I think I should increase the Genestealers to at least enough for 3 squads of 10, if not 3 squads of 20. but my main goal should be to get 2 if not 3 max squads of raveners. aditionally getting 2 more biovores. the plan would be to have stealers rush the line from the front in mass either from infestation nodes or terrain features while turn 1 raveners pop up in the back line where they can shoot away the fire support units. turn 2 red terror shows up and raveners charge in with a conga line to get bonuses from red. proceed to eat them from both fronts while biovores, tyranofex, flyrants and maybe sporocyst provide fire support. I know im lacking in more fire support. and thats where me asking for help comes in.

I'm normally a tau or eldar player. I wanted to try something different and aside form the goyles gaunts and steelers everything else I got in a lot someone was selling from their basement leftovers. What are your thoughts?

Yep, we Nids currently have an embarasment of choices. I think you will need to focus on a Hive Fleet first. If you go Jormangandr you'll likely want to fill out your Raveners so you can deliver a unit by Tunnel. If you go Leviathan, your special Strat is using Flying and infantry together, so moar Gargoyles might make sense. One solid Brood of Stealers is always a nice thing to have, and you have a Brood Lord so that works either way. Jormangandr works very well as a Carnifex Gunline with charges later. For the Tyrants it depends on your "style", and the local "meta". The "standard" load out is MRC, and Twin Brain leeches, but that might not work best for you, so try it out and see.

Good luck! And welcome to the Hive Mind!

Thanks for the welcome, I have watched a couple youtube battle reports for 8th ed and seen the tactics of MRC/Twin Dev Flyrants. my thoughts were 1 up front and aggressive while the 1 in back can 'snipe' high toughness units with the miasma cannon and use the supporting powers from a mid line with the tyranofex and biovores in back. I was playing around with battlescribe last night thinking about adding a unit of hive guard to the back line as well. it wouldnt give me a lot of shooting but it would help dig out those pesky cover whores lol. as for local meda. currently its just me and 2 friends. the 3 of us are looking at getting into the tournament circut in the midwest US area this coming year. they want me to use either my tau or eldar and the Nids are more of a for fun army until I can build it bigger with options. but I'd at least like to play against them and give them a run for their money. the one plays dark angles (rarely), Chaos marines (often) and Chaos daemons (rarely). the other has space wolves and can put together almost any list except TWC and wolfen. he has a Dreadnought only list, and armored column list and a 13th company list he likes to switch between. all very tough. I was thinking about carnifex but they are very points heavy when kitted out. and I havent seen any uses of them in battle reports either. what is an effective kit for a carnifex and what point value?
Here is the list I came up with last night on battle scribe. maybe it will show some insight on what my "Nid Style" might be lol.

Battalion Detachment
1 extra bio artifact -1cp
Hive fleet Leviathan
HQ:
Broodlord: Power Paroxysm, Artifact Maw-Claws of Thyrax 115pts
Hive tyrant: wings, toxin sacks, adrenal glands, powers onslaught and psychic scream, MRC, Twin Dev. 213pts
Hive Tyrant: wings, toxin sacks, powers catalyst and the horror, MRC, Heavy Venom Cannon, artifact Miasma Cannon, Warlord: Perfectly adapted 212pts
Troops:
15 Genestealers 180pts
15 Genestealers 180pts
10 Termagaunts (devourers) 80pts
Elites:
3 Hive Guard (Impailer Cannon) 144pts
The Red Terror 50pts
Fast Attack:
9 Raveners (Rending claws Spine fists) 234pts
9 Raveners (Rending claws Spine fists) 234pts
Heavy:
3 Biovores 150pts
Tyranofex (Rupture cannon) 208pts
total 2000pts CP7

my tactical thoughts:
brood lord power will insure that whoever the genestealers are fighting will not be able to attack the stealers before the stealers attack. artifact allows reroll hits as well as wounds ensuring more death almost an auto include. stealers split to make troop tax while keeping enough to keep extra attack for 1 or 2 rounds. and act like a screen for brood lord.

Tyrants the warlord hangs back and snipes high toughness units with artifact 2+ to wound for easier kills while being screened by the gaunts. powers to give a unit outside 6 inch leviathan bubble the ignore wound if needed and debuff a shooty unit that gets within range while it gets picked off. the other tyrant moves ahead to single out and enguage lonely units while taking objectives. eventually act as the synaps bubble for raveners and assist them in combat. adrenal glands and toxin sacks were just point fillers.

Tyranofex, Hive guard and Biovores hang back with warlord or take near objectives targeting high would and high toughness targets the melee units cant take on.

The Raveners pop up behind enemy lines near a target they can or must take out and with proper planning the forward flyrant will be in place to support them. and depending on the amount of room and what unit im facing (an assult or shooty unit) bring in the Red Terror as well or the next turn. spine fists being a pistol weapon can be fired within 1 inch of an enemy so I have an attack during the shooting phase and during the fight phase and with Red there I'm basicly hitting on 2+ in the fight phase.

your thoughts?

Doesn't look bad. With all those Ravagers I'd go Jormangandr. Chaos has a Fleet built just for them, Kronos...though that might bend some feelings. For Carnifexen it depends...in a Jormangandr "gunline" I'd go with twin Brain Leech

es, and a Heavy Venom Cannon, Spores for -1 to be hit, plus always get cover when they stand still. I put Acid maws on them for CC, but many call me Cra Cra, and use the +1 to hit head...YMMV.

For other Fleets most folks use double sets of Brain Leeches, or one set, and some Talons. For a Tyrannofex I prefer Acid Spray most all the time. But you will not see many Tourney players using our Big Bugs, so you'd be counter meta.

Play a few and see what you like! You can also check out our vast Tyanid tactics thread!