Ye Olde Inn

So I was playing with my nephews and it happened the only two survived Heroes were surrounded by 4 monsters.
Heroes initially tried to attack the strongest one (a Gargoyle) to avoid his attack on the next Morcar's turn. But they failed on several consecutive turns to infict any damage to it; so on each of his turns the Evil Wizard could lay four attacks on the same Hero until he died.
I guess a better strategy could be to kill the weakest monsters first, so you will reduce the number of attacks you may suffer later.
What do you think?

It all depends. If the normal mobs are easy to eliminate and they pose a threat in numbers with small attack dice, they can still be as devastating as a single hit from the Gargoyle. However - - the minions can be eliminated quite easily which grants you better chances to REDUCE the damage dealt to heroes on each turn if the heroes kill some mobs on every turn. On a first turn when you enter the room, you have to defend against 4 attacks, then the next turn 3, then 2, then only the Gargoyle's attacks (1,1,1,1,1) . So yes I would go for the little mobs first, and then switch places with the hero who was in charge of ''keeping'' the Gargoyle's attention. In another situation, if a Barbarian is well equipped enough to deal 5 combat dice of damage to a Gargoyle, then I would suggest that the barbarian should keep the Gargoyle busy and attempt to slay it by himself.

Our old strategy was always to limit the number of enemy attacks... so the weakest monsters die first. But later on that may not be the best strategy. Yes, wiping out minions lets you corner the big bad guy easier, but what if it's a really dangerous monster, like a spell user who can attack mind points or like a Yeti? Then eliminate the worst threat as fast as you can. If you can drop a spell on the big guy to hold him at bay (Tempest, Sleep) while you wipe out the scrubs, that can work too. I'm no master dungeon strategist, but that's how I'd tend to see it. Courage is great if you can trap the monsters all in room and give it to the Barbarian or Dwarf with a powerful weapon, but that's a given.

We also would go by the maxim that "the best defense is a strong offense" so upgrading weapons before Armor (I play the opposite way now when controlling Heroes).

Edit: Typo in the OP thread title!

Kill first the monsters with greater attack/defense ratio, like the Orcs, which have 3 attack dice but only 2 defense dice. Zombies, on the other hand, would have the lowest priority.

As for "boss" monsters, you will need to evaluate individually, specially if they have spells.

I think you attack the closest monster in the room first then go for the weakest as they pile in. If you can keep only one monster attack you at a time that seems to be the best way to go.

Long time no see Rath! Love your avatar by the way...

I think there is only so much to do in this specific combat situation. That pretty much covers the entire topic. Unless you come across special magic users who can trap the heroes or make them go berserk...then that would be something else. Or a special enemy that summons other enemies.

You have to kill the small easy ones first! Same as someone else said in a different answer, it will reduce the amount of attacks you get. The little goblins are so easy to kill but they can also do damage especially in groups. I'm playing with my 5 year old and he made the same mistake of trying to kill the Gargoyle first and I ended up killing the dwarf and the wizard.

I put down that I don't know because "It depends" isn't an option. The minions are the greatest threat in many cases because the EWP will box you in with the little ones, then hack at you with the Big Bad or better yet arrange it so that each monster in turn gets a whack at someone but the road to the Big Bad remains cut off. That's fine, though, because it's the fodder that limit your options. In the end, you all surround the Big Bad (which is what the EWP was doing to you, if you think about it) and start wailing on 'em.

The EWP will target your weakest character of course, but you're close enough to have your players pass around potions or maneuver to cast magic if necessary. Were it not a board game (and sometimes even when it is), the Big Bad would flee when threatened, so you want to cut off their opportunity for escape.