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So, I'm writing a hypothetical CSM list. Its just something I do in study hall now since I got battlescribe to work. Maybe my next tax return will be enough to buy this entire list in one swoop. That would be cool. So, I get to the point where all my units and the general focus of my list is there, and I'm just tweaking squad upgrades to fill those last few points and... it comes out 997/1000 points! Dammit!, I say to myself. But wait! If I switch this champion's upgrade to a chainaxe and a Gift of Mutation, it works out to 1000 points exactly. I have to deal with user strength and AP4 in close combat, but it works out to the point limit exactly.

This happens all the time, and I was just wondering if anyone else gets as frustrated as I do when I can't use all my points.

I actually don't mind 'wasting' points at all. Then again, I'm the kind of guy who comes up with a concept, fits it into a points limit and then considers list building done.

"What did I bring to the store today..... <half hour later> 1750 good for you man?"

Eh I don't mind as long as the list is focused well... which usually takes 2 or 3 iterations to nail down perfectly.

I always try to squeeze in as much as I can down to the letter, but sometimes you can't. I'm overall okay with having maybe 3-4 points leftover, but if I have over 10I end up rewriting the entire list.

Eldar have a unit, Jetbikes, that is 51 points for a squad of three. And since the squad functions in groups of three, upgradable guns for every third, there's that one point unless I take five trios......... I've learned to live with it.

Just take something that costs 3 pts. Combi-bolter or stuff like that.

Just about every list I've ever written goes above or below agreed points limits. Sometimes +10/-10, sometimes +100/-100 and any computation in between. As long as my opponent is cool with it, it's not a problem. I just try to fit in the stuff that I like. Which probably explains why I lose all the time

I really don't care too much if my list is in that -10 point range. It is that blasted +1 that makes me lose my cool. That is -1 Melta Bomb or -1 something else. And THEN I start getting irritated by that -10 point range. Because I know it cost me an item to get there, and now there are points left.

I kinda got myself into a spot with this. My 500 pt list was at 495/500. Rather than think, "Hey, you could buy a Melta Bomb and then you might be able to blow something up" I thought "Oooo, bye bye bolt pistol on Captain, hello Storm Bolter!" Sure, now he can use his relic blade and be decent at range, but those 5 points were probably best spent elsewhere.

Usually I build like this:

We agree on a points limit. After that, I decide what my strategy is going to be. For instance, "Will I got for Psyker dominance or will I go heavy armored?". Let's say I go with psykers, the next step is to fit in as many psykers as I see fit and make sure they survive (e.g. put them in a squad of CSM with a rhino). Next is kitting out these required units, like giving them a plasma gun or something.

The core of my army is done and it'll look something like this:
Ahriman
Be'lakor

Troop of cultists
1K sons squad with Rhino and a plasma gun.

Then I pick stuff that compliments this core and when I have around 200 points left I start calculating what I could add so I get to the points limit exactly.