The heroes are in the forest and as you draw exploration cards you come across an ambush. To resolve this card, you must enter combat mode and defeat the monsters.
1) Because it’s an ambush (Defend), monsters will have the first attack. Normally you would (Attack), which would let you have the first go.
2) When you target an enemy character to attack you can choose from which side to attack giving you some tactical advantage. Archers can also choose from where to shoot an arrow.
3) On the barbarian attack card there is the number 2 on the top left of the card. This is a pre-rolled random number that tells you how much damage you will do with this card on next use. Upon using the card, the number will re-roll based on what the card stats are. This is designed so you still have a random number but also let you maximize your strategy by telling you what the random number is.