In extraordinarily general terms, there are three basic tactics used. You need to be agile enough to hop between techniques almost instantly as the course of the match unfolds.

The Blockade

This comprises of creating a 6-thick wall of pieces, or at a minimum as deep as you are able to manage, to lock in your opponent’s pieces that are located on your 1-point. This is judged to be the most adequate tactic at the start of the match. You can create the wall anywhere within your eleven-point and your two-point and then move it into your home board as the game progresses.

The Blitz

This consists of closing your home board as fast as as you can while keeping your challenger on the bar. i.e., if your challenger rolls an early two and moves one piece from your one-point to your three-point and you then roll a five-five, you can play six/one six/one eight/three eight/three. Your challenger is then in serious calamity seeing that they have 2 checkers on the bar and you have closed half your inner board!

The Backgame

This plan is where you have two or more pieces in your competitor’s home board. (An anchor is a point consisting of at least two of your pieces.) It needs to be used when you are extremely behind as this action much improves your circumstances. The best areas for anchors are towards your competitor’s smaller points and also on abutting points or with a single point in between. Timing is integral for an effectual backgame: at the end of the day, there is no point having 2 nice anchors and a solid wall in your own inner board if you are then forced to break up this straight away, while your competitor is getting their checkers home, seeing that you do not have any other additional pieces to move! In this case, it’s more tolerable to have pieces on the bar so that you are able to maintain your position up until your opponent provides you an opportunity to hit, so it will be an excellent idea to try and get your opponent to get them in this case!