In very simple terms, there are three chief tactics employed. You need to be able to hop between game plans almost instantly as the action of the game unfolds.

The Blockade

This consists of creating a 6-thick wall of checkers, or at a minimum as thick as you might achieve, to lock in your opponent’s pieces that are on your 1-point. This is considered to be the most adequate procedure at the start of the game. You can assemble the wall anyplace inbetween your eleven-point and your two-point and then shuffle it into your home board as the game advances.

The Blitz

This is comprised of locking your home board as fast as as you can while keeping your opposer on the bar. e.g., if your opposer rolls an early 2 and moves one piece from your 1-point to your 3-point and you then roll a 5-5, you are able to play 6/1 6/1 8/3 8/3. Your challenger is then in big-time dire straits because 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 two of your checkers.) It would be employed when you are significantly behind as this strategy greatly improves your chances. The best areas for anchors are close to your competitor’s lower points and either on abutting points or with a single point separating them. Timing is critical for an effective backgame: at the end of the day, there’s no point having 2 nice anchors and a solid wall in your own home board if you are then forced to break up this right away, while your opponent is shifting their pieces home, seeing that you don’t have any other spare checkers to shift! In this case, it’s more tolerable to have checkers on the bar so that you might maintain your position until your challenger provides you an opportunity to hit, so it may be a good idea to try and get your challenger to get them in this case!