In extraordinarily general terms, there are 3 chief tactics employed. You must be agile enough to hop between techniques instantly as the action of the game unfolds.
The Blockade
This involves building a 6-thick wall of pieces, or at least as thick as you can manage, to block in your opponent’s pieces that are located on your 1-point. This is considered to be the most suitable course of action at the begining of the game. You can create the wall anyplace within your 11-point and your two-point and then shift it into your home board as the match advances.
The Blitz
This involves closing your home board as quickly as possible while keeping your competitor on the bar. For example, if your competitor rolls an early two and shifts one piece from your 1-point to your three-point and you then toss a 5-5, you will be able to play 6/1 six/one 8/3 8/3. Your competitor is now in big-time trouble since they have 2 pieces on the bar and you have locked half your inner board!
The Backgame
This tactic is where you have two or higher anchors in your opponent’s home board. (An anchor is a point filled by at least 2 of your pieces.) It would be used when you are decidedly behind as it much improves your chances. The strongest locations 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 an effective backgame: at the end of the day, there is no reason having 2 nice anchors and a complete wall in your own inner board if you are then required to dismantle this right away, while your challenger is getting their pieces home, owing to the fact that you don’t have any other additional pieces to shift! In this case, it’s more tolerable to have pieces on the bar so that you can maintain your position up till your challenger provides you a chance to hit, so it will be a good idea to attempt and get your challenger to hit them in this situation!
February 1st, 2019
Lee
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