[Aerich]

Yes, I'd say keep the ranger undualled. The pally can help your cleric a little with healing duties, and once the bard gets to 11th level, the regeneration song is yours.

Your party will do fine. One tank, one archer/tank, one healer/tank, a thief, a magic user, and a bard to fill in any holes. You can do axes with the bard, but you probably want to have him shoot or sing most of the time. Bards in melee = bad news, unless they've got mirror image going.

The first party I beat the game with was as follows: Paladin, Ranger, Cleric, Fighter/Thief (multi), Fighter/Mage (multi), and Bard. Pretty close to yours, I'd say, but with a little more weapon skills. It did well, despite that fact I didn't have HoW, and bards were mediocre.

The only thing I'd recommend with your party (or future parties) is to combine the thief with something. Straight thieves lack punch in IWD, and their skills go up fast enough to be able to deal with just about any situation made for thieves. That's particularly the case when you have a bard to pick the pockets; it allows you to spread the load over three categories instead of four. Make a fighter/thief for ranged attacks or melee power (exceptional strength + backstab = dead enemies) or a mage/thief for more magic.

Also, don't forget to take some blunt weapon proficiencies. There are some great maces and flails (stunning attacks are awesome), and there's a few good hammers as well.