I dont think they are spears to be honest, on closer inspection some time ago, i concluded thta were holding brooms, to sweep away the dead bodies

I agree, they are a pretty useless unit, but i suppose they are there if you wan to have like 6 Major valour units, and them as fodder. Because, they have such bad stats, that if they sneezed too hard they woul die, or if they bumped into each other, let alone engaging the enemy. They cant hold any half decent enemy unit for a sufficent time to flank either.