After a long spell In Sigil, Amn, Tehyr and the Spine of the World, Im going through Baldurs Gate again with an evil party and the Dark Side expansion.

My party is:

Me (conjurer)
Edwin (conjurer)
Xzar (Necromancer)
Montaron (Fighter/theif)
Imoen(Thif)
Viconia(Cleric)

Now, by the standards of BG2 this party is low on melee capability. BY BG1 standards im in real trouble. Where can I find a decent tank that wont decide to attack me in the near future? The only one that I can think of is Kagain, and hes not till Baldrus Gate. Consider my chances of making it through Cloakwood w/o a tank.

And dont say minsc, cos im about to kill dynaheir and I dont think that will go down well with him or boo.

Kagain is NOT in Baldur's Gate, he's in Beregost, and he's quite arguably the best Tank in the game. Shar-Teel is also good: Her CON isn't good for a primary Tank, but her STR and DEX are not to be sneered at. You also might consider using her to replace Imoen. Also, What The Heck Do You Have All Those Mages For? This is BG1, not BG2.

I distinctly remember finding him in NW BG last time around, thanks for the correction. Now if I could just get all these damn re-installs finish Ill see how well BG works in XP.

On the mages. They were available. and evil. Figured three mages was better than a couple empty slots. GOnna dump Xzar at the least, possible Monty as well. (Ys, I know there a couple, but there are ways around that).

Tiax is in NW BG city. He is an evil cleric or Cyric I believe, who has the innate ability to summon a ghast once per day.

Or you could try Shar-Teel. Go 2 sectors east of the Beregost Temple, and when you get there go directly north, and ready yourself for a fight.

Tiax is in Southwest BG city, not Northwest. The only recruitable NPC in NW BG is Skie, a Neutral Thief.

If you're running an Evil party, I'd drop Imoen much sooner than Monty.

About the Mages: Sure, if you've got empty slots, go ahead and take 'em, but if you want to be sneaky, just leave Edwin where he is, don't even talk to him. Play through the first half of the game (the half where having a Mage in the party is actually a drawback) relatively magic-free; then, when you're all Leveled up and you need a good Mage to cast Haste and Stinking Cloud & stuff, go recruit Edwin, who is now Level 6 without your having to drag him back & forth across the map.

I aggree that you should drop Imoen instead of monty. Montarton is a Fighter/Thief which makes him much better.

Technicaly you are correct, but I'm going through to SoA and ToB so Imoens presence is desirable. Besides, multi theives level to slowly for my tastes.

I dropped Xzar, got Kagain. Much better. Only problem I have is that edwin isnt a necromancer like I thought, SO I'll never be able to cast ID. Damn, but this is the price you pay for not knowing as much as you think you do. Still, at 100 a pop it wont bankrupt me, specialy if I dont die too often.