In extraordinarily simple terms, there are 3 chief plans employed. You must be agile enough to hop between strategies almost instantly as the action of the game unfolds.
The Blockade
This consists of assembling a 6-thick wall of pieces, or at a minimum as deep as you are able to achieve, to block in your opponent’s pieces that are located on your 1-point. This is judged to be the most suitable course of action at the begining of the match. You can assemble the wall anywhere within your 11-point and your 2-point and then shift it into your home board as the game progresses.
The Blitz
This consists of closing your home board as fast as possible while keeping your opposer on the bar. e.g., if your opponent rolls an early two and moves one checker from your 1-point to your three-point and you then toss a five-five, you will be able to play 6/1 six/one eight/three eight/three. Your competitor is now in serious dire straits seeing that they have two checkers on the bar and you have locked half your inside board!
The Backgame
This strategy is where you have two or more checkers in your competitor’s inner board. (An anchor spot is a position filled by at a minimum two of your pieces.) It needs to be used when you are extremely behind as this plan greatly improves your opportunities. The strongest places for anchors are near your competitor’s smaller points and either on adjoining points or with a single point in between. Timing is critical for a competent backgame: after all, there is no point having 2 nice anchor spots and a solid wall in your own inner board if you are then forced to dismantle this right away, while your opposer is getting their pieces home, owing to the fact that you don’t have any other spare checkers to move! In this situation, it is better to have checkers on the bar so that you can maintain your position until your competitor provides you a chance to hit, so it may be a good idea to attempt and get your competitor to hit them in this situation!
