Saga "Strength cred" for the Empire/FO..?

I'm not an EU book reader, so the sense of military strength - in terms of accomplishment - of the Empire/FO has perhaps been covered in a literary sense; but is there anyone else that would like to SEE the E/FO actually defeat someone in an attrition-esque capacity (no, not just planet annihilation), so as to give some weight to their losses to the rebels/resistance?

It's hard to get an impression of the Empire/FO being anything other than a bunch of buffoons, when we see TIEs getting blasted out of the sky in absurd numbers, Star Destroyers running into one another, design flaws being exploited, etc. I realize we're supposed to assume that the rebel/resistance pilots are the best of the best, and other r/r personnel are the sharpest of minds driven by desperation; and perhaps the E/FO have in fact never been challenged, and other systems just roll over for them, so they're actually not very astute at warfare..?

Actually, the one book I did read - Labyrinth of Evil - was great because you get a feel for Grievous not just as a faceless "baddie", but as a sympathetic character full of love, compassion, and rage, and his sad transition that actually mirrored Anakin's quite a bit (of course, he was duly emasculated by ROTS as cowardly and incompetent, which incredibly sucked). But you had depth to his character that would have been great to see - if just in a few minutes of flashback. I would love to see some depth/history to the E/FO so we're not left with that superficial "paper tiger" feel.

Ultimately, I just want to see the E/FO defeat someone. Not sure what that says about me, exactly.

 

Tantive IV
Rebel base on Hoth

 

^
Yeah, I thought about Hoth; but even then it was compromised by the escape of everyone of importance; and with the RBR, the plans/droids escaped. Fails, really.

I want to see dominance, man! Something that makes them formidable!