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I'm curious to see how strict people are on enforcing points limits in non-tournament games (obviously in official tournaments things are different). I have a poll if you want, or you can explain your answer.

I personally belong to the "1-10 points over is fine if your list ended up that way" school. When I make a list I throw everything I could possibly want in there, then trim down until I get to the points limit. But there's times when I end up with 1505 points for a 1500 pt list or something like that, and have no obvious way to kill that last 5 points without completely reorganizing.

I'm fairly strict. Whats the point in point limits if your not gonna follow them,

Depends on who I am playing and the situation.

Friendly game? Probably no big deal to a point. 1-2 points I'm not worried about, 3-6 is pushing it, but 10 is an extra weapon that can be cut.

Tournament? It's exact.

Whenever I have played, we have always agreed that it must be a certain points value, and not anything over that, even if it means you have some spare points at the end.
It has never seemed that hard to do, and so we haven't seen a reason to change it.

 dementedwombat wrote:
But there's times when I end up with 1505 points for a 1500 pt list or something like that, and have no obvious way to kill that last 5 points without completely reorganizing.

Which is the whole point of having limits. 1 to 5 points could have a huge impact.

Depends on what the points are spent on. If it's a point or 2 over, I won't complain because chances are it's not gonna be possible to end up exact. If it's 5 points over I'm usually fine with it, but again if it's 5 points on a possibly game changing weapon I may have concerns. I know that's why points are there, but some people take this stuff like the bible XD

If your models are 100% WYSIWYG (right down to melta bombs, etc) then I'll be fairly generous on points limit. It can be a real bitch to sort out the last 10-15 points.

If you're not WYSIWYG then points or under, no exceptions - if you're a few points over then drop a melta bomb, downgrade a weapon or something.

Personally, my lists are always points or under.

Im fine with 1-10 points over under the assumtion there isn't a easy way to cut it.
Never happened to myself to as i can easily cut down on a gaunt or gargoyle.

I'm generally pretty flexible w/ in a few pts on lists. I really only play against the same core group of people & we have a pretty laid back outlook on our games. 5 pts is fine, but anything over that I'm gonna expect you to get rid of something - like has been said, 10 pts is enough for a game changing meltagun in a seemingly inoccuous tactical squad. Luckily the people I play against are all of this same general mentality, so it has never been an issue for us.

~Vryce

1-10 points as long as there is no wargear costing exactly that 1-10 points.

Also, I'm not forcing people to cut points if that means one of their four identical units doesn't have some piece of not-game-changing equipment, like a boss pole, heavy bolter, flakk armor or plasma pistol. It's going to get mixed up during the game anyways, and it's extra strain on me to keep track of who doesn't have assault grenades.

Well, it's called a points *limit*, so, not hard to answer tbh.

Minus points for biased thus poor poll, OP.

 Vryce wrote:
I'm generally pretty flexible w/ in a few pts on lists. I really only play against the same core group of people & we have a pretty laid back outlook on our games. 5 pts is fine, but anything over that I'm gonna expect you to get rid of something - like has been said, 10 pts is enough for a game changing meltagun in a seemingly inoccuous tactical squad. Luckily the people I play against are all of this same general mentality, so it has never been an issue for us.

~Vryce

10 points is enough for 2 meltaguns in Tactical Squads. ^^

You may be up to zero points over. If you feel that being 1-10 points over is no big deal because that extra equipment probably won't change the game then why are you so reluctant to remove it from your list and play 1-10 points under the limit?

I an RAW because I think it is also RAI. If we set it at 1500 that does not mean 1502. You have choices so for example... lose the extra marine or downgrade your plasma rifle to a flamer. It is not hard to make a points limit.

That depends on why they are over it and what the available 'fix' is.
I'm not going to make him lose his only Power Fist in a tactical squad because he is 1-5 points over the list.
Nor am I denying him a LC on his Razorback.

But if he can easily drop 1 Ork Boy or a melta-bomb, than I do mind.

In the local meta here it seems to be understood that point limits are hard and fast. No one breaks them, so I don't either and now that's how I play. It's not that they are hard asses they just all play that way and so no one goes against the grain, you'd almost be like an outsider.

Kangodo wrote:
I'm not going to make him lose his only Power Fist in a tactical squad because he is 1-5 points over the list.
Nor am I denying him a LC on his Razorback.

Why not? Why should someone get to go over the point limit to have a power fist instead of a power axe for their AP 2, or a LC Razorback instead of a HB Razorback? We're not even talking about having to drop an entire unit and be 100 points under the limit, just having to settle for less than the best upgrades.

Yeah... you should stick to the limit or under.

"Hey, I'm 6 points over is that alright?"

"What brought you over?"

"Well these stupid Plague Drones are unevenly costed so I can't fit them in with being a few over."

"Then drop a Drone."

"I can't I have to take a min of 3."

"Then drop a Greater Gift from that Daemon Prince."

Know your foe.

I actually used a list that was 996 points today because Plague Drones threw off my points. No big deal. I still won the game.

The main thing I can think of to apply to this are the uneven SM HQ storm bolters. If I were to, say, take one on a captain and a librarian, that would usually put me 1 pt over the limit, as it doesn't fit in nicely with the multiples of 5 points costs with the rest of the army. In my mind, they ought to be a decimal value to fit in better. points, and as I only play my friend, he doesn't mind this 1 point over the limit. I will strictly adhere to a points limit in any other scenario, though.

*Edit - Not sure if I can post points costs here, so edited them out.

BladeSwinga wrote:
The main thing I can think of to apply to this are the uneven SM HQ storm bolters. If I were to, say, take one on a captain and a librarian, that would usually put me 1 pt over the limit, as it doesn't fit in nicely with the multiples of 5 points costs with the rest of the army.

Then drop a plasma gun to a melta gun, or only take one storm bolter. The problem isn't the storm bolters, it's that you feel that you're entitled to never play under the point limit or have to make sacrifices to fit all the upgrades you want.

In my mind, they ought to be a decimal value to fit in better.

This would be neater, but how would it help? If they went up to 5 points each to make it an even number you'd be even more points over the limit and still have to cut something to make up for it.

If the game is 2500+ points then 1-10 isn't going to make a massive difference to the whole game, but if its 1000 point game, then it's strict to the limit or a couple under if needs be

Beard wrote:
If the game is 2500+ points then 1-10 isn't going to make a massive difference to the whole game

Exactly. 1-10 points won't make a massive difference, so playing 1-10 points under the limit to avoid going over should not be a problem and you should never ask to go over the limit.

Your initial question specifies non-tournament games, so I say 1-2%. In actuality, I'd let my opponent go higher than that if they really wanted. (I don't mind playing at a handicap. I have been known to eliminate 1-200 points out of my own lists in order to get better at using limited resources.)

Tournament games are, obviously, a complete 180. A single point over is a single point too many! (I would even lobby for a disqualification at that point.)

Kangodo wrote:
That depends on why they are over it and what the available 'fix' is.
I'm not going to make him lose his only Power Fist in a tactical squad because he is 1-5 points over the list.
Nor am I denying him a LC on his Razorback.

The whole *ahem* point of the limit is that it forces a limit on just how much stuff can be crammed into your army. If he really wants that LC on his razorback, then he needs to make slack elsewhere.


For my money, a limit is a limit. In friendly games, that doesn't automatically mean that I won't play you, though... just that I expect you to point it out before we start playing, so I can alter my list to match the new limit if I can be bothered to do so.

 Peregrine wrote:
You may be up to zero points over. If you feel that being 1-10 points over is no big deal because that extra equipment probably won't change the game then why are you so reluctant to remove it from your list and play 1-10 points under the limit?

Your talking gear... it could be the diffence of being able to fit in a game changing unit.. to often this conversation restricts itself to gear. It could be whole squad of something.

 Peregrine wrote:

Beard wrote:
If the game is 2500+ points then 1-10 isn't going to make a massive difference to the whole game

Exactly. 1-10 points won't make a massive difference, so playing 1-10 points under the limit to avoid going over should not be a problem and you should never ask to go over the limit.

This. Coming in under points is just as little a deal as coming in over points and is also within the rules, so there's no reason not to do so.

 Byte wrote:

 Peregrine wrote:
You may be up to zero points over. If you feel that being 1-10 points over is no big deal because that extra equipment probably won't change the game then why are you so reluctant to remove it from your list and play 1-10 points under the limit?

Your talking gear... it could be the diffence of being able to fit in a game changing unit.. to often this conversation restricts itself to gear. It could be whole squad of something.

Well, yes, but if say, as DE, I'm trying to fit in a 9th reaver with blaster to my list, and that put me 4pts over, I could take out a venom blade on, may be, my arena champ or something to put my list back under the limit.

I believe that's what Peregrine meant.

Usually 1-10 points is ok but it really depends. If he's playing Tyranids and can easily kick 1 gaunt out of his list, I'll force him to do so.
But if he's 1-5 points over and really the lowest number of points he can drop is way bigger than the points he's over the limit, I let him go.

The limit's there for a reason, if you're going over, you're doing something wrong.
The only time I'll consider it is if I'm playing a buddy and I know that the only WYSIWYG models he has will take him over.

Also, the poll is rather biased. It makes out that by following the rules that two people have agreed on, I'm some how unreasonable. If you want to fit that last plasma gun in, well then we'll just have to play 1750.

I apologize for making a biased poll. I had no intention of doing that when I originally made the responses. All I had in my head while writing them was "strict to exact value", "strict to some single digit number of points", "strict to a couple percent", "generic 'other please explain' answer".

I guess there's a reason I never was good at data collection