uh....I kinda feel like thats not true. heros kill fodder because fodder can't apply enough dense "force" to take down a single target very effectively.....pure numbers helps of course in trying to drown somebody....but if they are so completely above the fodder that they can do it all day.......
also...I think its a little weird in this storys context, because "hero" here is somebody like one of the psckers....at least in the context of heros who actually do open battle....and the heros that I have seen eat fodder like breakfest....
I think this is too dependent on how you define "equivalent" forces.........what if I define a hero's worth as being twice that as a space marine and thrice that of a fodder-unit?
then the hero wins no matter what....as compared to if we define a hero unit as being worth the proportion of how many heroes we have to how many non-hero units we have....and then suddenly you realize that we have millions....(maybe even BILLIONS...? I dont know) of fodder-units for every hero we have and its pretty clear that the hero loses simply because they would DIE OF THIRST before killing that many.
oh, and I would point out that some hero units are better at open combat then others....I don't think ridcully or lin would be as good as what we value him as for CERTAIN.....even if they would be pretty good....I mean...I'm pretty certain that ridcully is worth a planet, lin is worth one FOR CERTAIN as he kind of created the trust....(sorta)