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I am looking for clarification in regards to how to find the precise number of units in reserves I can field for an army. The confusion comes from using reinforcement points, here's a theoretical list:

2,000 point game.
1,790 point army list.
210 reinforcement points.
875 points in reserves.

So, this should be legal no matter how the math is done because 875 is deep striking and 915 is being deployed on the board. However, I'm confused about how the reinforcement points count. I assume the reinforcement points are not counted as points or units starting in reserves, though I guess if they do count than this becomes illegal. It says that only 50% of my units and points can start in reserves, so does my army count as being worth 2,000 points or only 1,790 points? Do the reinforcement points count as nothing or are they considered part of one of the two halves?

Additionally, can someone point me to where the rules dictate this if there is something other than the Tactical Reserves section of the FAQ?

Thanks

Reinforcement Points aren't considered part of either "units kept in reserves" or "units deployed on the table"; if you read the Tactical Reserves section of the April 2019 Designer's Commentary you'll note that Reserves are restricted based on the amount of stuff you have deployed on the table, not based on the amount of stuff in your army list.

This is particularly important for Chaos player: The Tactical Reserves rules don’t care about point costs, “at least half the total number of units” is referring to counting how many units you have. If you have 20 units in your force, at least 10 units have to be deployed. It doesn’t matter whether or not that’s half of your models or half of your points on the table.

Reinforcement points are points that aren’t units yet.

 solkan wrote:
This is particularly important for Chaos player: The Tactical Reserves rules don’t care about point costs, “at least half the total number of units” is referring to counting how many units you have. If you have 20 units in your force, at least 10 units have to be deployed. It doesn’t matter whether or not that’s half of your models or half of your points on the table.

Reinforcement points are points that aren’t units yet.

It is actually both number of units and number of points; the full rule for your convenience:

"TACTICAL RESERVES: Instead of being set up on the battlefield during deployment, many units have the ability to be set up on teleportariums, in high orbit, in ambush,
etc., in order to arrive on the battlefield mid-game as reinforcements. When setting up your army during deployment for a matched play game, at
least half the total number of units in your army must be set up on the battlefield, and the combined points value of all the units you set up on the
battlefield during deployment (including those that are embarked aboard Transports that are set up on the battlefield) must be at least half of
your army’s total points value, even if every unit in your army has an ability that would allow them to be set up elsewhere.
Furthermore, in matched play games, units that are not placed on the battlefield during deployment in order to arrive on the battle mid-game as
reinforcements cannot arrive on the battlefield during the first battle round.
Finally, any unit that has not arrived on the battlefield by the end of the third battle round in a matched play game counts as having
been destroyed."

Addendum: I'm reading it again and I was wrong the first time too; you need to have half the total points of your army set up on the field, which would include reinforcement points.

So to recap:

At 2,000pts you must have 1,000pts and half the total number of units on the table. Any remaining points may be set up in Reserves, used as Reinforcement Points, or set up on the table normally so long as less than half the number of units purchased start off the table.

Units that arrive using Reinforcement Points after deployment (summoning, for instance) are not affected by the half-the-number-of-units restriction but are part of the half-your-points-total restriction, but units purchased using Reinforcement Points during deployment (the flex-Assassin stratagem) would be part of the half-the-number-of-units restriction.

So, to answer my question... I simply cannot put more points in reserves than I have on the table.

So, in my example with a 1,790 point army in a 2,000 point game, I can deep strike up to 895 points.

Thank you. It is how I assumed, but as I've discovered in a decade of Warhammer... assumptions are rarely useful!

Reinforcement points seem to be a useful way to increase the amount of deep striking units, though, for me as that 210 reinforcement points is going to be summoned demons providing me with an effective 1085 points of deep strikers with only 915 points starting on the battlefield!

No, you can't put more points into other stuff than you can into units that are on the board. For a 2000 point army you have to have at least 1000 points on the board. If you have 210 reinforcement points that means you have at most 790 point starting off the board.

 doctortom wrote:
No, you can't put more points into other stuff than you can into units that are on the board. For a 2000 point army you have to have at least 1000 points on the board. If you have 210 reinforcement points that means you have at most 790 point starting off the board.

It's not that simple.

In typical GW fashion, they have fubared the rules in such a way that it can't be certainly say one way or the other.

WARHAMMER 40,000 UPDATE APRIL 2019 wrote:TACTICAL RESERVES
Instead of being set up on the battlefield during deployment, many units have the ability to be set up on teleportariums, in high orbit, in ambush, etc., in order to arrive on the battlefield mid-game as reinforcements. When setting up your army during deployment for a matched play game, at least half the total number of units in your army must be set up on the battlefield, and the combined points value of all the units you set up on the battlefield during deployment (including those that are embarked aboard Transports that are set up on the battlefield) must be at least half of your army's total points value, even if every unit in your army has an ability that would allow them to be set up elsewhere.

Furthermore, in matched play games, units that are not placed on the battlefield during deployment in order to arrive on the battle mid-game as reinforcements cannot arrive on the battlefield during the first battle round.

Finally, any unit that has not arrived on the battlefield by the end of the third battle round in a matched play game counts as having been destroyed.

BRB Page 214 wrote:POINTS LIMIT
In a matched play game, you will need to determine with your opponent the points limit for your game. Usually, both players will use the same limit, but this does not need to be the case.

To use a points limit, you will need to reference the points values, which are found in a number of Warhammer 40,000 publications, such as codexes. In these you will find the points costs for every model and weapon described in that book. Simply add up the points values of all the models and weapons in your army, and make sure the total does not exceed the agreed limit for the game.

So, as you can see, there is a distinction between the agreed points limit (which includes reinforcement points) and the points value of your army (which is "the points values of all the models and weapons in your army" and seems to not include Reinforcement Points). As is the case with a lot of the 8th edition issues, it all comes down to what the definition of "army's total points value" means, with two valid but mutually exclusive potential answers.

I agree, strictly speaking my army points value is not the same as the points value of the game we're playing. Especially if you factor in the points on the table. It sounds like the rule is I cannot have more points in reserves as I have on the battlefield, so reinforcement points are irrelevant. If I have 875 points in reserves, I need at least 875 points on the table. So my reserve units restrict the amount of reinforcement points I can afford.

I'll be honest and say I know little to nothing about Reinforcement Points, as I don't play an army that uses them. That said, I feel like discounting those points is ripe for abuse and I don't know if I'd play against someone who only used the points on the board and in Reserve when determining how much Army needs to be out there. Like, and I don't know if this is even possible, but if someone put 100 pts on the board, 100 in Reserves, and had 1800 pts of Reinforcements, that'd be pretty messed up.

 flandarz wrote:
I'll be honest and say I know little to nothing about Reinforcement Points, as I don't play an army that uses them. That said, I feel like discounting those points is ripe for abuse and I don't know if I'd play against someone who only used the points on the board and in Reserve when determining how much Army needs to be out there. Like, and I don't know if this is even possible, but if someone put 100 pts on the board, 100 in Reserves, and had 1800 pts of Reinforcements, that'd be pretty messed up.

Remember that if they have no models on the board they are at risk of losing the game immediately due to boots in the ground. So it's a massive risk.

Also, pretty much every use of reinforcement points isn't really worth it anyway. If you're holding them for summoning (which is poor to start with) as soon as your last character is killed you now have no way to summon, and that's a serious consideration if you only started with 100pts on the table!

Those are fair points, and I obviously used an extreme example, but I do still feel like it can be exploitable. Especially since first turn is so deadly.

 Stux wrote:

Remember that if they have no models on the board they are at risk of losing the game immediately due to boots in the ground. So it's a massive risk.

Thats not boots on the ground. The BOTG rule says that unit with the flyer battlefield role cant control objective markers.

 Stux wrote:

Also, pretty much every use of reinforcement points isn't really worth it anyway.

Joshua Death who placed 9th at the LVO 2019 with 647 reinforcement points must have cheated then, and no one noticed ?

Bah, apologies. Sudden death isn't it. And that does depend on the mission of course.

As for that list, exception that proves the rule. Summoning is generally trash. In one specific tournament one very good player found a niche for it. That doesn't change anything.