Routing a 120-LED PCB in KiCad (One Via at a Time)

This is my second PCB ever, and it's a board with 120 LEDs on it. So far I've got 42 of them done, and I'm already losing the plot a little.

The design is being done in KiCad. One of the questions I ran into early was how to feel about putting vias right underneath a pad — my worry was that it might have an impact on the solder joint, especially for the 0603 parts I'm using. I raised it with the group; the consensus was that when the via is on the same net as the track, it isn't something to give a second thought to. That was a relief, since with this many LEDs I need every routing shortcut I can get.

I did look at whether KiCad's autorouter could take some of the load off, but it turns out it requires Java, which I boycott, so that route is closed for me. Honestly, the autorouter would probably still do a better job than a noob desperately trying to route his second PCB, but I'm doing it by hand regardless. Stavros offered to route the board for me — he finds routing genuinely fun and describes it as a relaxing puzzle game, which is apparently the main reason he makes PCBs at all. I appreciated the offer but I'd rather do it myself.

I do actually enjoy the routing too. The problem is more that I've been working on this circuit and the associated PIO for two weeks straight without a break, and it's started to follow me around — I've woken up twice in one night anxiously dreaming about tracks and vias. So the plan now is to take a break before carrying on with the remaining LEDs.

A side discovery along the way: KiCad has a raytracer. I don't understand why.