In astonishingly simple terms, there are three fundamental strategies employed. You want to be agile enough to switch strategies almost instantly as the course of the game unfolds.
The Blockade
This is composed of creating a 6-deep wall of checkers, or at a minimum as thick as you can achieve, to block in the competitor’s pieces that are located on your 1-point. This is considered to be the most adequate tactic at the begining of the game. You can assemble the wall anyplace inbetween your 11-point and your two-point and then shuffle it into your home board as the game advances.
The Blitz
This is composed of closing your home board as quick as possible while keeping your opponent on the bar. i.e., if your opponent rolls an early 2 and shifts one checker from your 1-point to your three-point and you then roll a 5-5, you can play 6/1 6/1 eight/three 8/3. Your opposer is then in serious difficulty seeing that they have 2 checkers on the bar and you have locked half your inner board!
The Backgame
This tactic is where you have two or more anchors in your competitor’s home board. (An anchor is a position filled by at a minimum 2 of your pieces.) It would be used when you are significantly behind as it much improves your chances. The strongest places for anchor spots are towards your opponent’s smaller points and either on adjoining points or with one point separating them. Timing is important for a competent backgame: after all, there is no reason having two nice anchor spots and a complete wall in your own home board if you are then forced to break down this straight away, while your opponent is shifting their pieces home, seeing that you do not have any other extra checkers to shift! In this case, it’s more tolerable to have pieces on the bar so that you might maintain your position until your challenger gives you a chance to hit, so it can be a wonderful idea to attempt and get your challenger to hit them in this case!