What I did was to find a piece to test where I could ID a tab, and its matching slot on another piece. I chose two that were fairly small in the layout, and would fit into an unused area. Then I removed all other pieces and cut just those two.
Once I confirmed the fit, I went back to the design and restored it to original condition, and cut the whole thing.
This way, I tested the fit w/out sacrificing a whole board. I don’t have a lot of any one type of board, so it’s not like I can make samples willy-nilly.
What is that thing they say in knitting/weaving/sewing…sample, sample, sample!