Spearmen (The Empire)

Spearmen are an melee infantry unit introduced in Total War: Warhammer.
== Recruitment ==
* Unlocked with: Hamlet, Altdorf (Hamlet), Occupied Drakenhof (Hamlet), Occupied Couronne (Hamlet) or Occupied Miragliano (Hamlet)
== Description ==
State troops are paid as full-time professional soldiers, ready to answer the call to arms at all times. In addition to forming a standing army to repel enemy attack, state troops also serve as city guards, the fire watch and the enforcers of the law. However, most of the time these soldiers spend their days drilling and training with various weapons to the barked instructions of grim-faced Sergeants and veteran Marksmen. Every state trains its regiments to fight together, providing each other with mutual protection on the battlefield. State regiments often march to battle with detachments of differently armed troops to aid them. These detachments form up close to their regimental units, where they guard vulnerable flanks and provide battlefield support, either by joining their regimental units in the bloody melee of close combat, or by showering oncoming enemies with missile fire. Swordsmen fight shoulder to shoulder with Spearmen, the close range parries and ripostes of swords complimenting the longer reach of the spear. Handgunners and Crossbowmen fell their foes with withering volleys of fire, but should a foe survive through such salvos, a detachment of Halberdiers will bravely intercept them, cutting them down with heavy bladed pole arms.
== Attributes ==
== Strategy ==
=== General ===
*This unit functions similarly to Swordsmen in being a cheap Empire front line unit. They sacrifice melee attack of the swordsmen for charge defence and a solid bonus vs. large that makes them the best option for swarming monstrous units or fending off cavalry. Also acts as a counter against lightly armored large units, though low armor piercing can result in difficulty with even large targets.
*Notably, charge defence only functions when the unit is braced (happens automatically when the unit isn't moving) and charged from the front. 
*Bonus vs. X applies as a boost to melee attack and damage against whatever X is. So the +15 bonus vs. large gives the spearmen a 35 melee attack vs. large and 34 weapon damage.
*This unit is weak to missiles and has low armour, which is how they are most vulnerable.
*Essentially militia grade troops, standard spearmen will be used as such. Cheap infantry used to fill the ranks until better troops can be afforded. However, if well supported, they can be effective in the early game, and continue to trade well against more expensive large units that aren't too well-armored, if they can manage to get where they need to be.
=== Vs Enemies (WIP) ===
*
**Beastmen rely on hordes of lightly armored infantry, monsters as well as monstrous infantry to get the damage done. But unlike the vampire count's infatry regular beastmen infantry are not too bad at dealing damage. With their anti-large bonus spearmen are good to bring to protect the flanks and in the reserves to support the frontline where needed, but they definitly shouldn't be the main lineholders.
*
**Bretonnia focuses in cavalry, cavalry and even more cavalry intermixed with some subpar peasant infantry troops. Spearmen are a good choice to bring as an early game frontline, but as most bretonnian cavalry are well armored, you'll want to replace them with Halberdiers pretty early on.
*
**Dark Elves are made up of brutal infantry in melee as well as ranged, as well as strong and armoured monsters and monstrous cavalry. With this being said, the regular spearmen lacks the means to defend against their infantry and has a hard time punching through the large entities armour. Field spearmen only when no other options are available.
*
**Dwarfs generally field no large troops that would be reachable by melee infantry and in addition their infantry is heavily armored with the exception of Slayers. As these spearmen have no shields and insignificant armor piercing damage, you better shouldn't use spearmen against dwarfs. In fact you don't really need anti-large infantry against them, but if you really want to bring some along, use Halberdiers.
*
**Greenskins often rely on hard hitting infantry combined with some mediumly armored monsters and cavalry, so some spearmen to protect the flanks and to Mix into the Frontline is actually a pretty good idea. The Spearmen will prove a good defense against Trolls and Orc Boar Boyz as well as the Savage Orc Boar Boyz and Pump Wagons. You should think about bringing the shielded version, as this will help the spearmen survive against the few greenskins missile troops, as well as staying alive in melee a little bit longer thanks to increased melee defense.
*
**High Elves have a very balanced unit roster, even more so than the Empire, and will often use armies composed of decent melee infantry, strong missile troops and armored cavalry and monsters. This makes the spearmen a terrible choice to bring against High Elves, as they lack the shields to withstand missiles, the melee attack to deal with their infantry and the armor piercing to deal with their cavalry and monsters.
*
**The Lizardmen are able to field a wide variety of large units, ranging from monstrous infantry and cavalry up to devasting single entity monsters. Bringing a lot of anti-large troops is highly recommended. Spearmen are thus a good choice to bring, but as almost every lizardmen is heavily armourded naturally, don't expect them to deal that much damage. To really scare some large lizardmens you needs to bring Handgunners and Halberdiers.
*
**The Norsca roster is made of hard punching infantry and monsters while generally lacking ranged power. Bringing no shields against norsca is not so problematic. You can use spearmen to protect your flanks while other troops should Form the main battleline.
*
**When facing Skaven in combat, you will encounter hordes of low quality infantry to pin your forces down, while their missile troops, special weapons forces and artillery will try to blast your army to pieces. But they have some nasty large war machines and monsters as well so it isn't a bad idea to bring some anti-large troops to the fight. Regular spearmen will do decently against the skaven monsters and are quite able to fend of the skavenslaves that might be thrown at you, but their lack of a shield as well as armour will leave them quite vulnerable against the expected missile fire.
*
**As the Empire relies heavily on missiles and heavily armored cavalry, bringing regular spearmen is not a great choice. With their low armor and no shields, they will get blasted by any missile troop or skirmish cav the empire has to offer, while with their low armor piercing damage they'll do no damage against the empire's heavy cavalry. Use them for protection of your flanks only if no other anti-large troops are available. If you have the option try to use Halberdiers for yor flank defenses.
*
**Tomb Kings generally field many large units through their constructs and chariots so bringing anti-large infantry like the spearmen is pretty advisable. Spearmen will also survive pretty well against the Tomb Kings as most of their infantry isn't too dangerous and missile troops are somewhat uncommon in their armies. Just don't expect the spearmen to singlehandedly take down more than some skeletton cavalry, as most of the tomb kings large units have a high health pool in combination with very much armour.
*
**Vampire Count armies are typically composed of expendable, weak infantry, large, mostly unarmored monsters and heavy cavalry. The Vampires lack of ranged troops and good infantry (especially in the early game), as well as the spearmen's charge defense against large will result in the spearmen being a very solid frontline choice.
*
**Wood Elves are the faction with the best missile troops in the game, and in addition to that, they have decent melee infantry, a good variety of light cavalry as well as armored monsters. With that being said, the usage of regular spearmen is rather limited, as they have no defense against missiles nor so they have the armor piercing to deal with the Tree Kin troops. You rather want to bring the shielded spearmen for the flanks and halberdiers in reserves to reinforce the frontline in places where the Tree Kin try to break through. 
*
**Warriors of Chaos are currently in the position of being able to access more different troops than any other factions can. In general, they rely on heavily armoured elite melee infantry, cavalry and monsters. Bringing anti-large units to protect the flanks like this spearmen isn't a bad idea and as Warriors of Chaos lack ranged troops pretty much entirely, having no shields isn't a downside here. Having no armour-piercing in the other hand is pretty bad, as you won't be able to really hurt their troops. Also don't use spears as your frontline, as the chaos infantry will make short work of them.