In extraordinarily general terms, there are three basic techniques employed. You must be agile enough to hop between game plans quickly as the action of the game unfolds.
The Blockade
This comprises of building a 6-thick wall of checkers, or at a minimum as thick as you might achieve, to lock in the competitor’s pieces that are on your 1-point. This is deemed to be the most acceptable tactic at the begining of the match. You can create the wall anywhere within your eleven-point and your 2-point and then move it into your home board as the match advances.
The Blitz
This involves locking your home board as quickly as possible while keeping your opposer on the bar. For example, if your opposer rolls an early 2 and moves one checker from your one-point to your three-point and you then roll a five-five, you are able to play 6/1 6/1 8/3 eight/three. Your challenger is now in serious calamity seeing that they have two checkers on the bar and you have closed half your inner board!
The Backgame
This strategy is where you have 2 or higher checkers in your opponent’s home board. (An anchor spot is a point consisting of at a minimum two of your pieces.) It should be played when you are extremely behind as it much improves your circumstances. The strongest areas for anchors are near your competitor’s lower points and also on adjacent points or with one point in between. Timing is critical for a powerful backgame: after all, there is no point having 2 nice anchor spots and a solid wall in your own inner board if you are then required to break down this right away, while your competitor is getting their checkers home, because you do not have any other spare checkers to move! In this case, it’s better to have pieces on the bar so that you might preserve your position up until your opponent gives you an opportunity to hit, so it can be a wonderful idea to try and get your opposer to get them in this situation!