Clusters of metal nanoparticles with an overall size of less than 100 nm and high metal loadings for strong optical functionality are of interest in various fields including microelectronics, sensors, optoelectronics, and biomedical imaging and therapeutics. Herein we assemble approximately 5 nm gold particles into clusters with controlled size, as small as 30 nm and up to 100 nm, that contain only small amounts of polymeric stabilizers. The assembly is kinetically controlled with weakly adsorbing polymers, PLA(2K)-b-PEG(10K)-b-PLA(2K) or PEG (MW = 3350), by manipulating electrostatic, van der Waals (VDW), steric, and depletion forces. The cluster size and optical properties are tuned as a function of particle volume fractions and polymer/gold ratios to modulate the interparticle interactions. The close spacing between the constituent gold nanoparticles and high gold loadings (80-85 w/w gold) produce a strong absorbance cross section of approximately 9 x 10(-15) m(2) in the NIR at 700 nm. This morphology results from VDW and depletion attractive interactions that exclude the weakly adsorbed polymeric stabilizer from the cluster interior. The generality of this kinetic assembly platform is demonstrated for gold nanoparticles with a range of surface charges from highly negative to neutral with the two different polymers.