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[SwissMercenary]

You don't need heroes to win games, but they do make nice mobile rally points or "kill me" signs.

Against inexperienced opponents, heros are not necessary, but at higher levels (and higher I mean bnet level 9-10+), heros make the difference between victory and defeat.

One of the most effective strategies with Orc is to "harass" your opponent, prior to either:

A) Very fast teching.

B) A follow-up attack to end the game quickly.

With all the races, bar Undead, I tend to build an altar, and a food building with 2 of my starting peasants, for the earliest possible hero rush. As the Orc, I also construct a Voodoo Lounge immediately after that burrow finishes. That shop has both health, and mana regeneration items in stock. But, anyways, back to the topic of harass...

The two main harass heroes for the Orc are the Far Seer and the Blademaster. While late game, neither one is great when large armies are involved, if you can cripple your opponent early game, who cares about the late game? :D

For an example of how Blademaster harass works, here's what often happens in my games.

As soon as the Blademaster is built, the Voodoo Lounge finishes. I buy 2 clarity potions, 1 healing salve, and 1 speed scroll. I head in the direction of the (scouted out) enemy base, as I invest a point in Windwalk.

Right before I am in sight of enemy buildings, I activate Windwalk, and waltz right into the base. I pick the worker furthest from enemy units/moonwells, and attack it. Wisps go down in 4 normal attacks, on in 1 windwalked attack, and 1 follow-up attack. Other workers take more attacks, but set the enemy back more. If enemy units are absent, I continue attacking workers, untill the blademaster is threatened - then I windwalk, and move to another part of the base. Once all the workers are dead, or the base becomes too dangerous, I windwalk or speed scroll out of the base, and use my salves/clarities. As soon as the enemy leaves to creep, I go at it again - all the while, grunts are being amassed at home, and my Great Hall is being upgraded.

Key points in harassing:

Go for peasants building something. Often, when the harass is beaten back, your opponent will discover that he let an unfinished farm sit there for a minute, and he hit his supply cap. Oops.

Alternatively, go for lumber collectors. In early game, lumber is what prevents players from upgrading their main, and crippling their lumber sets them back for the rest of the game. Additionally, unlike gold miners, lumber harvesting workers stand still for long periods of time - perfect targets for Blizzard/Spirit wolves/etc. Of course, if you have the Keeper of the Grove, you can also interrupt gold mining, with your entangle.

Never, ever, ever waste your TP scroll. It costs 350 gold to replace, and is unavailable until Tier 2. Often, it's best to let your hero die (Although it does give the enemy a lot of exp), as a lvl 1 hero costs 170 gold to revive. If a unit such as a grunt is in danger, though, by all means, TP.

Do not forget about your own base - quickly scroll back, and que up new food buildings, upgrades, etc. Unit producers should be hotkeyed, so you shouldn't have a problem with making more units. (I just press 5 G to train a grunt, etc)

Unless you are doing extended harassment, don't rally your units to your harassing hero - they can be attacked by creeps along the way, and are generally a nuicance. Also, note that units following heroes, instead of units attack moving in formation are less reluctant to attack.

Mass an army at your base - you don't want to give your opponent your strategy away.

About the "Chase the Tauren game" - that startegy is, as I said, viable at lower levels of play, but ineffective later. Sure, you made your opponent waste a TP scroll - 350 gold. The problem is, you now have 10 raiders, who will be dog meat against heavy melee. (Raiders do less damage then grunts against heavy armoured units, due to their slow attack speed, and take EXTRA damage from normal melee units. And they are expensive. Raider vs tauren = Tauren can win 4-1.)

As for general strategies - the most effective ones take advantage of specific unit combinations.

Some effective ones:

Human:

Rifles/Casters. Throw in a few knights if the game is 1v1. Although melee SHOULD counter rifles, the theory doesn't stick when there's 4 sorceresses casting slow, several priests are healing, and the Archmage + Bloodmage are spamming Blizzard and Flamestrike on your slowed units. This strategy is very effective against most things, save Dryads/Bears/Mountain Giants, and Abominations/Destroyers. Destroyers simply slaughter any kind of buffing/cursing spellcaster - they are a must against a human opponent. This strategy is highly effective against orcs, as they do not have easily accessable disspel - hence the orc often harasses & rushes the human, before he can hit Tier 2. Until the Undead/Night Elf is Tier 3, though, you do not have much to fear from them - hence you should strive to end the game quickly.

Orc:

Grunts/Casters/Tauren. If you are sure that your enemy is not going air, or your teammates have anti-air ready, this will slaughter anything that moves. Just make sure you have dispell, because when the polymorphs start flying, this will hurt. Note - Tauren are higher priority then casters. Another strategy is extended harassing with a far seer, and fast teching to Stronghold, and Wind Riders - don't even bother making a barracks.

Undead:

Ghouls/Gargoyles with a Dreadlord as a primary hero is an effective rush strategy. Throw in a few necromancers. Crypt Fiends/Statues (And later destroyers) are very good against enemy air units, and should be first priority in team games.

Night Elf:

There are two main tech routes - the Ancient of Lore, and the Ancient of Wind. I, myself, always get 1 Ancient of War, and try to quickly tech to Tier 2 - once I get there, I build 2 Ancients or Lore or 2 of Wind. If I'm going for Lore, I mass huntresses in Tier 1, with a Keeper of the Grove/Warden - if I go for Wind, I mass archers/Priestess of the moon. If I go the Lore route, my army consists of huntresses/dryads/bears/mountain giants (The perfect counter to riflemen/casters). With Lore, it's paramount to get the Tier 3 upgrades. If I go the Wind route, I get around 10 archers, which later become Hippogryph riders, with the rest of my units being a mixture of Druids of the Talon, and Faerie dragons. This strategy is very effective against melee/casters, as faerie fire + mana flare + focus fire from Hippogryph riders make short work of Tauren/Shaman/Witch doctors.

(P.S. My account on West is MasterNightfall)