I played bard,s tale many years ago. I have forgotten the party composition rules. Are there ranged attacks in the game? Can I only have spellcasters in the last three rows?

There are no ranged attackers. Bards and spellcasters belong in the last three rows.

Of note:

Rogues are useless. The only reason to train a rogue is for transferring to the third game.

Paladins get better saving throws at higher levels. This makes it easier to run away if your paladin is in the lead and makes the Dragonshield more effective. Warriors, on the other hand, need 1 fewer inventory slot to reach LO AC. (Of note, none of this applies early on.)

Monks are good because they have lots of free inventory space. They don't get any breath attacks, but 4 characters with breath attacks endgame is plenty.

Bards are actually there not for bard songs (which can be useful, especially if the luck song actually works in the version you are playing) but rather for their breath attacks. The premade bard comes with a Fire Horn (and if necessary, you can transfer another from the boot disk if it breaks), and bards have stronger breath attacks than anyone else even late game when most characters get then. High Dex (to act sooner) and Luck (to make breath attacks more effective) are good here.

At least one spellcaster should end the game as a Conjurer or Magician. I recommend Conjurer so you get an extra Restoration caster sooner. I recommend learning at least Animate Dead from Wizard so you can revive characters, however. (Note that level 7 Sorcerer spells can be skipped in the first game if you do not intend to transfer the character; In BT2, however, the most powerful spell in the game (more powerful than any Archmage spell, in fact) is a level 7 Sorcerer spell.)

One more thing: I am pretty sure that the spell Anti-magic increases the success rate of the spells that you cast.

Personally, I don't like using two of the same class in the same party; also your front line is rather boring. For Bard's Tale 1, I would recommend using a Monk: They are actually more powerful than Warriors and having one frees up inventory space to pick up more loot. Trust me, you will be finding a lot later in the game, so inventory space is crucial.

I'd have three spell casters, one Bard, one Paladin (party leader) and one Monk.
Leave one slot open for Wind Dragons (best summons before you can summon Greater Demons).
Rogues are useless (mages can TRZP chests safely, and Rogues have no special attacks in BT1), and Hunters are bugged in many versions (but AFAIK not in the orignal Apple version).

Of note:
In Bard's Tale 1, one slot is reserved for summons anyway. In the DOS version, player summoned Greater Demons don't breathe (but enemy Greater Demons do), so Wind Dragons are better for the chance (25%) of annihilating the entire first group of enemies.
In the DOS version of BT1, Rogues are bugged (they can't even open chests safely), but Hunters are not. (Just don't level up your Hunter in BT2, as that will cause his critical hit rate to overflow and become low again.)
In my experience, 2 spellcasters are really enough, especially since physical attacks are more reliable against single enemies and most classes (Monk and Rogue being the exceptions) get breath attacks eventually.