[Mage_77]

I gotta disagree also Nightowl. I "never" use a fighter nowdays and only use hybrids or a rogue as a 2nd tank.

Barnybyrd.

Fairie Ninja is a good choice if you get the CoC for a melee fighter.
Rogues are also a nice choice especially if you build up thier stealth skill for the defense & can deal quite a bit of damage while effectively dual wielding.

I personally find fighters to get a tad boring due to thier stats/skills capping out fast and no real specialty class skills compared to the others.

My other suggestion is maybe another caster type. My usual groups are a combination of 2 melee types,2x bishop & 2 different types like either a bard & rogue or gadgeteer & rogue or Bard & rogue.

with your current group though i highly suggest a fighter type since between you current list you have hybrids & bishop all can use spells at some point + a bard & gadgeteer. I personally dont like lords cause they remind me of paladins & if you read the quote in my Sig you will understand that since paladins are considered to be goody goodies.

Valks are good if you want a polearm wielding character for the flanks.

If you pick up RFS-81 you could have your valk using polearm on 1 flank & your mook ranger on the other with a giant's sword. with sam & rfs-81 up front & gadgeteer/bishop middle or rear.