In very general terms, there are 3 basic game plans employed. You need to be agile enough to hop between techniques quickly as the course of the game unfolds.
The Blockade
This consists of creating a 6-deep wall of checkers, or at least as thick as you can manage, to block in the competitor’s checkers that are located on your 1-point. This is deemed to be the most suitable procedure at the start of the game. You can build the wall anyplace within your eleven-point and your 2-point and then shuffle it into your home board as the match continues.
The Blitz
This consists of closing your home board as quickly as as you can while keeping your opponent on the bar. For example, if your challenger rolls an early 2 and shifts one piece from your one-point to your 3-point and you then toss a five-five, you will be able to play 6/1 6/1 eight/three eight/three. Your competitor is then in serious dire straits since they have 2 checkers on the bar and you have locked half your inner board!
The Backgame
This course of action is where you have 2 or more checkers in your competitor’s home board. (An anchor is a position occupied by at a minimum two of your checkers.) It needs to be used when you are extremely behind as it greatly improves your chances. The strongest places for anchor spots are towards your opponent’s smaller points and either on adjacent points or with one point separating them. Timing is critical for a competent backgame: after all, there is no point having two nice anchors and a solid wall in your own inner board if you are then required to break down this straight away, while your opposer is moving their pieces home, because you do not have other spare pieces to move! In this situation, it is more tolerable to have pieces on the bar so that you are able to preserve your position up until your opponent provides you an opportunity to hit, so it will be a good idea to try and get your opponent to hit them in this situation!