In exceptionally general terms, there are three basic tactics employed. You must be agile enough to hop between tactics quickly as the action of the game unfolds.
The Blockade
This consists of building a 6-deep wall of checkers, or at least as deep as you are able to manage, to lock in the opponent’s pieces that are on your 1-point. This is considered to be the most adequate course of action at the begining of the match. You can build the wall anyplace within your eleven-point and your 2-point and then move it into your home board as the game advances.
The Blitz
This is composed of closing your home board as quick as as you can while keeping your challenger on the bar. For example, if your opponent rolls an early two and shifts one piece from your one-point to your 3-point and you then toss a five-five, you can play 6/1 six/one eight/three 8/3. Your opposer is now in serious calamity since they have 2 checkers on the bar and you have closed half your inside board!
The Backgame
This course of action is where you have two or more pieces in your competitor’s home board. (An anchor spot is a point occupied by at a minimum two of your pieces.) It should be employed when you are extremely behind as this strategy greatly improves your chances. The strongest areas for anchor spots are near your competitor’s lower points and also on adjoining points or with one point separating them. Timing is critical for an effectual backgame: at the end of the day, there’s no reason having 2 nice anchor spots and a complete wall in your own inner board if you are then forced to dismantle this right away, while your competitor is getting their pieces home, seeing that you do not have any other spare pieces to move! In this situation, it’s more favorable to have checkers on the bar so that you might maintain your position up till your challenger provides you a chance to hit, so it can be a great idea to try and get your challenger to get them in this case!
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