Spears serve a purpose, especially the higher level ones that have a decent defense stat. I hated Spear units until I started playingon expert difficulty and couldn't rely on my sword units masacaring enemy spears anymore.

Now I use them myself as a mobile wall, and pinning unit. Their sole purpose it to tie up and enemy unit so I can flank it, but they do that job quite well. Chiv Sergeants and equivalent units are a good addition to your army. Point them at any unit that you think will put a hurting on you and then run another unit around to the side of it. while is fighting and slowly beating the spears, charge your flanker into the rear and sandwith the problem unit. even very strong units will fall under this pressure after a while.