In very general terms, there are three basic tactics employed. You want to be agile enough to switch tactics quickly as the course of the match unfolds.
The Blockade
This consists of assembling a 6-deep wall of pieces, or at a minimum as deep as you might manage, to barricade in the competitor’s checkers that are located on your 1-point. This is deemed to be the most acceptable strategy at the start of the game. You can assemble the wall anyplace within your 11-point and your two-point and then shuffle it into your home board as the game progresses.
The Blitz
This is composed of locking your home board as quickly as possible while keeping your competitor on the bar. e.g., if your challenger rolls an early 2 and moves one checker from your one-point to your 3-point and you then roll a five-five, you can play 6/1 six/one eight/three 8/3. Your opponent is then in big-time trouble since they have 2 pieces on the bar and you have closed half your home board!
The Backgame
This strategy is where you have 2 or higher anchors in your opponent’s inner board. (An anchor is a point consisting of at a minimum 2 of your pieces.) It must be used when you are extremely behind as this action much improves your circumstances. The strongest locations for anchor spots are towards your competitor’s smaller points and either on abutting points or with one point in between. Timing is important for an effectual backgame: at the end of the day, 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 up this straight away, while your challenger is shifting their pieces home, considering that you do not have other extra checkers to shift! In this situation, it’s more tolerable to have checkers on the bar so that you can preserve your position up until your challenger provides you an opportunity to hit, so it will be a good idea to try and get your opponent to get them in this case!