B) Demolisher wasn't on the GenCon list, and doesn't fit in that list at 300 without sacrificing Assault Concussion Missiles.

Maybe I have the wrong list in mind, but I'm pretty sure Demolisher was on the list that took first at Gen Con/North America Nats. Screed, a Vic I, 2 Glad Is with ACMs, and a Glad I Demolisher with ACMs comes out to 298 (26 + 73 + 63 + 63 + 73).

If you had another list from Gen Cone in mind, then nvm, my bad.

You are right, I thought that Demolisher was dropped for ACMs on all.

It sure seems like a list with that much firepower should run over 300. Of course, the fact that it's not makes the Demolisher title about as close to an auto-include as we have at the moment (in my opinion).

For the op, I've almost successfully alpha-striked a Demolisher with an AFIIB (Mon Mothma, Adar, expanded hanger bays, advanced projectors, and XI-7s... so it was an expensive command ship), plus 3 B-wings, Keyan Farlander, Luke Skywalker, and 2 CR-90Bs (one with Dodonna's Pride). The Demolisher was really coming in hot (telegraphing) on the AFIIB, so a turn before I anticipated him coming in, I moved the squadrons towards Demolisher, about distance 2 ahead of the AFIIB, with the frigate strafing into position just within long-range of Demolisher. I had first activation the next round, so I launched the squadrons at Demolisher, and with a distance 2 head start plus speed 2/3, plus distance 1 range, they were on it easily, though on its front arc. I started with Luke to see if I could tempt him to exhaust the Brace early, but landed just a hit [shields: 3-2-2-1, 4hull, Ev/Br/Red]. The first B-wing landed a black hit/blue crit, which Demolisher took on the chin [shields: 1-2-2-1, 4hull, Ev/Br/Red], the second a blue crit and a hit which was redirected to avoid hull damage [shields: 0-2-1-1, 4hull, Ev/Br/Red], and the third a blue hit/black hit-crit, which was braced down to 2 damage [shields: 0-2-2-1, 2hull, Ev/Br/Red], so I felt I was in a pretty good spot. I had a squadron token banked as well, which I used to activate Keyan, who landed a black hit-crit and a miss, but because there were no shields on the front, I was able to re-roll and landed another black hit, so he burned the brace and redirect to avoid the chance at 4 damage from the crit [shields: 0-0-1-1 2hull, Ev/Br/Red]. That left the AFIIB's side shot, which came up a double-hit, a blank, and a crit. Since I didn't roll accuracy, he cancelled the double-hit with his evade, and survived the encounter with one side and aft shield and 1 hull left (with 3 regular damage cards and a crit... needless to say, it wasn't structural damage). So close. Needless to say, Demolisher activated next.

It was relatively easy to polish Demolisher off after that barrage, but he still got his move and shoot. I thought my dice rolls were pretty good all told, but it still wasn't enough to take down the beast. I suppose maybe if I'd been able to line up a double-arc shot with my AFIIB that might have been enough, though I wasn't too keen at heading directly towards Demolisher without knowing how the fight was going to go down. I took this combination of squadrons because it seemed like they'd give me the best chance of punching through Demolisher (or any ship) as quickly as possible, so the fact that they weren't successful makes me doubt whether any squadron build can deal enough damage quickly enough to deny Demolisher an activation (barring that perfect dice roll).

Looking back, I'm not sure the alpha-strike (trying to deny Demolisher an activation) was the best strategy. It felt cool to bring the heat, especially once its shields and defense tokens started to melt, but once the Demolisher did activate, he shot right past my squadrons, leaving them woefully out of position. Also, since Demolisher was way out in front, my opponent had a fairly good idea what part of the board to avoid the cluster of squadrons that had made the jump. Had I waited for him to close and taken the second attack on the chin of my AFIIB (with a Brace, Evade + Mon Mothma, and advanced projectors, I doubt any hull damage would have gotten through, even with ACMs), I could have used Luke and Co. to jump ahead of his flight path, do their damage, and then if necessary activate first in the next round to polish off Demolisher.

The positioning for the alpha-strike was also incredibly complicated, and basically required that I abandon my other 2 CR-90s to their on devices. Had I remained clustered together and waited for Demolisher to come to me, I doubt Demolisher could have withstood the whithering bombing barrage, plus the AFII's payload, plus additional dice from Dodonna's Pride and the other CR-90. But hindsight is 20-20, as they say.

Just one experience, for what it's worth. It does seem to me that one-shotting a full-health Demolisher in a single activation requires both targeted list-building and careful positioning (plus some above-average dice rolls), or a significant activation advantage (counter with another Demolisher, which moves into position and fires on the last activation of a round, then activates first next round and lands a double-arc shot), or some exceptional maneuvering on your part/bad maneuvering on the opponent's part (you activate last, move your VSD-I's front arc into close range of Demolisher, then activate first next round and lay into it with double-arcs... or your opponent moves into the front arc of the VSD I and parks it in front opening up a double-arc shot). Given the number of variables that go into it, I'm not convinced it's a strategy you can count on with regularity.