Keep your wits about you

[Glorelendil]

I suspect that even with the default rules, a "high level" character with all virtues/rewards spent on combat would be able to kill quite a few orcs before succumbing.

Boromir don't need no stinkin' house rules.

And what Rich said about Helm's Deep. I don't believe Legolas and Gimli were surrounded at all.

Finally, not every sentence Tolkien wrote is going to map exactly to TOR rules.

[Stormcrow]

Legolas and Gimli are separated when the orcs destroy the culvert and pour through the walls. At this time Gimli and the men he is with are indeed surrounded by orcs. This is what allows him to catch up with Legolas's score.