Built this fleet mostly out of boredom and played it last night against a friend's Sloane Aces/ISD-II list, and not only did it perform amazingly well, it was a blast to play - I generally don't like flying MSU lists, and this really changed my mind about them.
Name: Swarming' Thrawn-a-rama
Faction: Imperial
Commander: Grand Admiral Thrawn
Assault: Most Wanted
Defense: Planetary Ion Cannon
Navigation: Dangerous Territory
Arquitens Command Cruiser (59)
• Grand Admiral Thrawn (32)
• Captain Brunson (5)
• Medical Team (1)
• Early Warning System (7)
• Turbolaser Reroute Circuits (7)
• Hand of Justice (4)
= 115 Points
Here you've got your flagship that plans to stay in the back, taking those long range red-die shots, preferably activating towards the end of the round to make use of the Kittens role as a finisher. Thrawn is utilized for ConFires leaving all your ships free to Nav unconditionally.
Brunson, Medical Team, and EWS are there to help you stay alive. On my first design, I didn't have Brunson or Medical Team, but the Kittens took 0 shots - unlikely to happen in other games. Hand of Justice can be used to keep those Raider's Braces or the Gozanti's Scatters green, but this may alter your activation priority. HOJ can make your kitted' out Gozanti (see below) soak up many shots to the frustration of your opponent. Originally I had DTT on here, but TRCs will output more damage, and since you'll be trying to activate this guy towards the end of the round, you should be in the clear to use the Evade. I guess you could also drop Brunson for Needa.
Raider II (48)
• Veteran Gunners (5)
• Disposable Capacitors (3)
• Heavy Ion Emplacements (9)
= 65 Points
This ship is here to strip shields on the big girls like the MC80s or ISDs. If you don't get the crit out of the front, you can re-roll with Veteran Gunners, or try your luck with the side arc, adding Thrawn's ConFire blue to the side.
Raider I (44)
• Agent Kallus (3)
• Ordnance Experts (4)
• Disposable Capacitors (3)
• External Racks (3)
• Impetuous (4)
= 61 Points
This ship is not to squadron-hunt, despite Kallus and Impetuous. You still want to shoot with those DCaps, front arc, long range of two blues (+1 Thrawn ConFire) targeting something juicy. This Raider I is kitted out to deter squads from coming near her, and can provide some close range flak, even obstructed - so you will want to fly her close to your other ships.
Raider I (44)
• Ordnance Experts (4)
• Disposable Capacitors (3)
• External Racks (3)
= 54 Points
DCaps at long, adding a blue, then Move into close range with your Nav, and try stay out of the worst arcs - we are planning on going first with this list, so it is possible to sacrifice this girl if she gets in trouble. At close we're adding a black with Thrawn's ConFire and popping ExRacks. In my friendly game she scored 9 damage (braced to 5) from her front arc and 2 damage from her side right into Sloane's ISD-II. She did die and was the most wanted ship, but I got a lot of value out of her.
Annoyazanti Cruisers (23)
• Minister Tua (2)
• Slicer Tools (7)
• Disposable Capacitors (3)
• Suppressor (4)
• Electronic Countermeasures (7)
= 46 Points
This is your real anti-squad ship, but she doesn't target the squads, she goes for the Carrier. With ECM, this Gozanti can pop off her DCaps+Thrawn ConFire for some plinks, and speed up with a natural Nav to get right into the worst arcs of anything and laugh (once, briefly) at all the ACC results while slicing that upcoming Squadron Command. Even if some massive ace-holes like Mareek Steele comes in and uses some Sloane shenanigans, you'll have Hand of Justice to refresh the Scatter. I added Suppressor after my game, and this could've helped - would've had chances to exhaust a Gozanti's Scatter and an ISDs Brace.
Gozanti Cruisers (23)
• Slicer Tools (7)
• Disposable Capacitors (3)
= 33 Points
And just in case your opponent deploys their carrier on the other side of your Annoyazanti, you've got this one to come up protecting the opposite flank...works well against those Veteran Captains.
Squadrons:
= 0 Points
Total Points: 374
I do want to play this list a few more times - in my match I misplayed and put a repair on the Annoyazanti, when it should have been a Nav and instead of flying past, she suicide-d into my own Raider, missing a turn of sweet, sweet slicing. I also had Assault Gozantis with Tractor Beams to slow other small-based ships down, and try for those double reds...and it worked OK on my opponents Arquitens , but since you'll want to run them on the outside, opposite flanks, you won't find many opportunities to affect the same ship. And it is actually cheaper to have the Crusiers with DCaps, dropping the tractor beams saves me 6 points, and the medium range Gozanti's save an additional 4 points which I kept for a larger bid. Coming from lists that use a large base, this was a different experience flying so many small bases, you can get *really* close to each other, pull off some oddball tricks with the movement tool, and pile up the damage a few dice at a time - which adds up. I was really surprised how much damage my friend's ISD took, and by the start of round 4 it only needed 3 more damage.
Anticipated weaknesses include other Thrawn lists that can't be sliced, lists heavy on Rogue Squadrons.