In astonishingly simple terms, there are three chief strategies used. You want to be able to hop between tactics almost instantly as the action of the game unfolds.
The Blockade
This comprises of building a 6-thick wall of pieces, or at a minimum as deep as you can manage, to barricade in the opponent’s pieces that are located on your 1-point. This is deemed to be the most adequate course of action at the start of the game. You can build the wall anywhere within your eleven-point and your 2-point and then shuffle it into your home board as the game progresses.
The Blitz
This is comprised of locking your home board as quickly as possible while keeping your challenger on the bar. e.g., if your challenger rolls an early 2 and shifts one checker from your 1-point to your 3-point and you then toss a five-five, you are able to play six/one six/one eight/three 8/3. Your challenger is then in serious difficulty seeing that they have 2 pieces on the bar and you have locked half your inside board!
The Backgame
This tactic is where you have two or higher anchors in your competitor’s home board. (An anchor is a point consisting of at a minimum two of your pieces.) It would be played when you are significantly behind as it greatly improves your opportunities. The better locations for anchor spots are near your competitor’s smaller points and either on adjoining points or with a single point separating them. Timing is important for a competent backgame: after all, there’s no point having two nice anchor spots and a complete wall in your own inner board if you are then required to break down this straight away, while your opponent is getting their checkers home, considering that you don’t have any other additional pieces to move! In this situation, it’s more favorable to have pieces on the bar so that you might maintain your position up until your opposer provides you a chance to hit, so it will be a wonderful idea to try and get your opponent to hit them in this case!