Forgive me if this is a really stupid question but I am new to Descent.

So we had a little rules dispute with our overlord.

The overlord attempted to use the air elemental to block a path by placing units behind the elemental. His notion was that we could run through the elemental but not stop and attack inside the spaces he occupied. Even if we backed out after attack or were pushed out when elemental starts turn.

Additionally he took the rules very literally and stated that we cannot use ranged attacks through a monster because of line of sight.

Some of these things don't make logical sense. You should be able to stand in air, shoot through air and such.

Our overlord is a long time First Edition player so I don't know if he is pulling rules from there but we need to find a way to move past this. Right now he is not willing to come to a compromise without a hard rule stating why he can't do this.

Reading other forums there are a number of scenarios that can be broken by air elemental.

What has everyone come up with to deal with this?

Unfortunately, you are going to get answers from both sides of the fence on this. Ultimately, it will come down to your group agreeing on it. According to the rules, monster block line of sight, so you cannot attack a monster behind another monster. Doesn't matter if the monster is made up of air or glass. Also, you cannot end your move (or even interrupt your move) on top of another creature and you cannot move through enemy monsters. So, in all respects, according to the rules, your OL was correct. But, there are those who believe that the rules should be modified according to the situation, like seeing through a monster made of air.

You cannot move through enemy figures, but if I recall correctly, the Air ability on an Elemental specifically makes an exception to this, so that shouldn't be a problem. (It might help if someone could post the exact text of that ability.)

And you cannot end your movement in the same space as another figure. HOWEVER , I cannot find any rule that says you cannot interrupt your movement in the same space as another figure. First edition had a rule specifically forbidding figures to attack while in the same space as another figure, but I don't see any corresponding rule in second edition.

So unless someone can point out something I've missed, I believe that moving into an Elemental that is using its Air ability, attacking, something on the other side, and then moving back out would be completely legal by RAW.

Antistone is correct and his attack example is the exact reason the rules do NOT prevent you from performing actions on spaces with units on them WHILE INTERUPTING YOUR MOVEMENT PHASE. If the elemental is Air simply walk through it (as the card describes) into one of its spaces, interupt your move to attack, and then move back through the elemental to an empty space.

From the card (which supercedes any rule book rule) - "AIR: Until the start of your next turn, this monster cannot be affected by any attacks, and heroes may move through it."