Tips on a Good Defense-Offense Setup on the Board

A good initial defense-offense setup for backgammon should be ordered such that a win strategy is easily maneuvered when the right timing comes. There are several guidelines to observe to accomplish this successfully.

At the outset, we should let some of our checker pieces free as we move them from initial setup to a secondary setup. This is to position them in defense-offense positions that are sturdy yet easily broken up for quick mobility. So initially it's okay to set some pieces on open points as blots. However, they should not remain blots for long. As we come to our secondary setup they should become anchors or primes.

The idea is to establish bridges on the board. We use these scattered but patterned free pieces as "stepping stones" to get other pieces safely across the board, especially come mid play. When we have reached our secondary board setup we shall have built a series of anchors on enemy territory. These anchors can blocked incoming enemy pieces or hit them.

The secondary setup for backgammon is actually a consolidation of pieces. When we have several free pieces out on the board we may then partner them with other pieces so they do not remain blots susceptible to enemy hits. Much later on, we dismantle them to move them on to our territory. These scattered pairs then become stepping stones to other pieces again.

The later, we may form formations on our home board to trap enemy checkers and keep them longer in our territory. This is done by placing our paired pieces in front of enemy pieces on our home board. This is a jamming strategy to make the opponent lose several turns. Here, it is good to have a six-piece jam sitting on a single point. It is safe to form such primes. We don't need to worry about having to dismantle them and move them to home board because they are already on it.

Be reminded that when hitting during the initial moves, we need to hit the most advanced enemy piece on the enemy board—or even on our board. This is the most logical hit to make. In fact, at times we may have to keep hitting when as long as there's a piece to hit, so long as there still is no definite plan possible.

A good tactic for backgammon is to make initial and secondary defense-offense formations. This setup for backgammon makes our pieces easy to maneuver.