In astonishingly general terms, there are 3 chief techniques employed. You want to be agile enough to hop between game plans quickly as the action of the match unfolds.
The Blockade
This involves building a 6-thick wall of checkers, or at a minimum as deep as you are able to achieve, to lock in the competitor’s pieces that are located on your 1-point. This is considered to be the most acceptable tactic at the start of the game. You can create the wall anyplace inbetween your eleven-point and your two-point and then move it into your home board as the game advances.
The Blitz
This involves closing your home board as quick as possible while keeping your opposer on the bar. i.e., if your opponent rolls an early 2 and moves one piece from your one-point to your 3-point and you then toss a five-five, you will be able to play six/one six/one eight/three eight/three. Your opponent is now in big-time difficulty due to the fact that they have two checkers on the bar and you have closed half your inside board!
The Backgame
This strategy is where you have 2 or more anchors in your opponent’s home board. (An anchor spot is a point consisting of at a minimum two of your checkers.) It must 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 either on adjacent points or with one point separating them. Timing is essential for an effective backgame: at the end of the day, there is no point having two nice anchor spots and a complete wall in your own inner board if you are then forced to break apart this right away, while your challenger is getting their pieces home, taking into account that you do not have any other additional checkers to shift! In this situation, it’s more favorable to have pieces on the bar so that you can preserve your position up until your competitor provides you an opportunity to hit, so it can be an excellent idea to attempt and get your competitor to hit them in this case!