In astonishingly general terms, there are 3 general techniques employed. You want to be able to switch tactics almost instantly as the course of the game unfolds.

The Blockade

This is composed of creating a 6-thick wall of checkers, or at least as thick as you might manage, to lock in your competitor’s pieces that are located on your 1-point. This is deemed to be the most suitable tactic at the begining of the game. You can build the wall anyplace inbetween your eleven-point and your two-point and then shuffle it into your home board as the match continues.

The Blitz

This involves closing your home board as quickly as as you can while keeping your challenger on the bar. e.g., if your opponent tosses an early two and moves one piece from your 1-point to your 3-point and you then roll a 5-5, you will be able to play six/one six/one eight/three eight/three. Your opponent is now in big-time dire straits due to the fact that they have 2 pieces on the bar and you have closed half your inside board!

The Backgame

This strategy is where you have two or more pieces in your opponent’s home board. (An anchor is a position consisting of at least 2 of your checkers.) It should be employed when you are decidedly behind as this plan much improves your chances. The strongest areas for anchor spots are towards your competitor’s lower points and also on adjoining points or with a single point separating them. Timing is essential for an effective backgame: after all, there is no point having 2 nice anchor spots and a complete wall in your own home board if you are then forced to break down this right away, while your challenger is shifting their pieces home, owing to the fact that you don’t have any other spare pieces to shift! In this case, it’s more tolerable to have pieces on the bar so that you can preserve your position up until your competitor provides you an opportunity to hit, so it may be a good idea to try and get your competitor to hit them in this case!