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Does anyone use non attack actions in combat? In a recent combat some of the heroes had stood on a fallen tree to gain advantage in goblins on the ground. I thought that the goblins could grab the legs of the heroes, forcing an athletics skill check to avoid falling. Is that kind of thing others are using?

There are Combat Tasks as well.

The RAW method for what you're talking about would likely be to roll Battle to remove the Advantage, if a player were doing it. Perhaps you could have the Adversary force the target to roll a Battle modified by the Adversary's Distinctive Features to maintain it? Alternatively, you could roll an attack and they could choose to forego the damage (or spend a tengwar) to remove the Advantage.

I like to blend in other skill uses in combat, to suit the narrative and objectives:

- maybe you can push the ladders orcs are using to scale the walls using Athletics, or ina different scene use Athletics to push a statue onto some orcs
- perhaps you can try to open/block a door with Craft to allow allies to enter (or prisoners to escape), or to block enemy reinforcements
- maybe the heroes need to use Lore to complete a ritual at the same time that a combat scene is raging

If these alternative actions are fun and effective (with the right rolls), people will use them and combats will feel memorable and distinctive.

I'm using a few of the combat actions from 1e, doubling the options and did consider it being a variation of the shield bash. I thought Battle may be the option in the more abstract version of combat, but didn't feel that that would reflect on the targets true dexterity and bumblebees.