Here was a strategy I used to use.
1. town hall
2. farm
3. blacksmith
4. 2nd peon
5. 2nd peon farm, constantly builds farms
6. 3rd peon barracks
7. 4th peon barracks
8. For the next wave of peons, all on gold, about until the fifteenth.
9. when done with blacksmith, upgrade weapons first, then the first
shield upgrade, 2nd shield upgrade, 2nd weapons upgrade
10. When the first barracks is done, train grunts in it, have the first
grunt scout and the second grunt from the other barracks(it gets done
shortly after the first) scout as well
11. When you find the enemy, attack with your upgraded grunts, if they
are upgraded and your opponents aren't then you will win pretty easy.
Unless...........he's walled in his hall with farms and towers, what you could/should do in that case is place your own towers in range of the farms, but out of range of his towers.