Party Formation help.

[Ledribaen]

My party consists of Vi(spear), RFS-81(hands), Lord(bloodlust), Ranger(bow), Rogue(thiefs dagger), Bard(music), Gadgeeter(gadgets), Bishop(spells). Right now I have them set up in a standard formation, fighters in front, ranger in middle with bishop, gadgeteer on left, bard on right, back empty. But I've grown tired of this formation and have noticed other people using different formations that leave the front row empty and use the flanks/middle as their entire front row. When I tried that my fighter/rogue would have trouble attacking because they couldn't reach the enemies on the flanks from the middle, and if I put them on the flank they couldn't reach the enemies in the front. Can somebody help me out with a formation that would provide maximum coverage of my party while allowing most people to attack?

Thanks in advance!

[GenXCub]

Since you only have 3 short range melee classes, why not put them in the Front Rank (Lord, RFS, and Rogue), put the Valk with Spear in the Middle, and the Ranger and Gadgeteer in the rear. Leave the flanks empty. That should allow anything around you to be attacked by all your melee classes.

[Jem]

Ledribaen -- the tactic of leaving the front rank empty works best if you have lots of people using swords in melee because it allows more people to attack to the front, which they can't do from the flanks if you have people in the front rank.

However, they will only be able to do short-range to the front or to their side if they are on a flank. In the center rank, they can only do short-range to the front.

I normally put my swordsmen on the flanks, my polearms/staff-wielders in the center and my spellcasters in the back. The extended weapons can attack short or extended range to the front and short range to the back and both sides.