After having some success with this at regionals I am taking another shot at this list...
I actually started working on this as soon as Wave 7 hit, it was the first thing I thought of but that was the first well thought out and tested version.
This new version I have not tested yet but I plan to try it out at one of my upcomming Store Championships to give it a whirl.
The first thing about the original list that just was not working were the squads. Sure they are fine against another light squad list but vs heavy squads they melt too quickly and vs no squads they really provide no help at all. The rest was pretty solid but I wanted to get another ship in that can do some work. I found I could add a third Arquitens but it was still a 4 activation list. I tried it out and wasn't totally sold on it. I also tried dropping the Gozanti and adding in 4 Firesprays but the lost activation wasn't good and the firesprays while better than the original squads also didn't hold up to full squads.
So I wanted to add an activation but have a ship that could do something different...
Name: Tarkin Sovereign Raider
Faction: Imperial
Commander: Grand Moff Tarkin
Assault: Most Wanted
Defense: Capture the VIP
Navigation: Dangerous Territory
ISD Cymoon 1 Refit (112)
• Grand Moff Tarkin (38)
• Strategic Adviser (4)
• Intensify Firepower! (6)
• Gunnery Team (7)
• XI7 Turbolasers (6)
• Sovereign (4)
= 177 Points
Arquitens Command Cruiser (59)
• Engine Techs (8)
• Quad Battery Turrets (5)
= 72 Points
Arquitens Command Cruiser (59)
• Engine Techs (8)
• Quad Battery Turrets (5)
= 72 Points
Raider I (44)
• Darth Vader (3)
• External Racks (3)
= 50 Points
Gozanti Cruisers (23)
= 23 Points
Squadrons:
= 0 Points
Total Points: 394
So we added a Vader Raider. Now Tarkin doesn't do a lot for a Raider but it will ensure I have the Squad Command if Raid tokens are present. It can also help with 2x speed jumps with token and command. My hope is that the Raider gets opponents thinking. If they go slow to avoid the QBT Arq's (common counter among friends when I break out this list) the the Raider can jump in more easily to do its thing. If they want to speed up to avoid the Raider then the QBT's do their thing.
The idea on the objectives was similar for all 3, Contested Outpost is still an option I have not given up on it but I want to try VIP. The idea is to spread the board out. ISD at one end, Gozanti at the other, and the other 3 ships somewhere in the middle. For MW and VIP The Gozanti is the objective/gets the VIP and spins in the opposite corner away from the action. If it is Dangerous Territory it goes after the tokens my opponent trys to put out of reach.
Then make my opponent chose between the 2 Arq's and the Raider or the ISD and be aggressive with the ships they are not as focused on and try and arc dodge with the others.
The BIG concern are full squad Bomber Lists and Sloan. The ISD has fair AA for that and I would likely use the Gozanti close to the ISD in that scenario to help but really it is going to be an all out charge down of my opponents carrier(s). I effectively have 3 speed 4 ships and 2 speed 3 ships so I should be able to be on top of the Carrier for shots no later than turn 3.
I would have liked a slightly larger bid. I could drop the Racks from the Raider to increase the bid a little but around here the full Squad lists tend to be tight on points so I will hope my bid is good enough.
Really Squads are my only real concern. Even Raddus I feel like I can deal with. I have 4 decent attack ships and I would try and pinpoint where my opponent wants to drop and keep the smaller ships at range of that so once they drop I can pound them at long range while the ISD does its best to survive.