I ran The Marsh Bell this past Saturday. BE AWARE ... Here there be SPOILERS!

As player-heroes are wont to do, they zigged rather than zagged ... that is, they went towards the Treasure Chamber instead of the Wine Cellar. All four made very good Stealth rolls (the worst roll was a great success), so I had them make it to the door, before a Marsh-Dweller came from behind the door to discover them ... I gave them plenty of warning that something was coming, too, but they opted to stand and meet whatever it was. As they glimpsed hundreds of glowing eyes behind the one immediately in front of them, they opted to take the one out, shut the door, and flee. Now, the description of the passageway is "a tight and twisting passage" ... I ruled that it was only possible for only 1 of any one of the 2 Men or 1 Elf to be able to fight at a time at the front ... the Hobbit (I said) could stand, more or less, in the front with one of the others, if desired. The 2 Men opted to stand one behind the other and use their spears (I had the one behind have an additional +2 to the TN to strike the target).

My question is how would you have handled this? I was at a loss to see how more than 2 heroes could be in a stance to participate in the fight. Am I being too miniature-based in my thinking? Thanks for your feedback.

I believe I handled it the same way you did. I allowed for two in close combat at a time and two in rearward.

On the contrary, that was a very narrative way of handling the situation. Miniature-based systems attempt to codify these kind of situations in their core rules. TOR shows the Loremaster what tools he/she got and its up to him/her to use them appropriately, changing them to adapt to the situation is necessary (which is what you've done).

Most importantly, gauge it against what you and your group thinks its 'right'.

Glorfindel