If you're not wanting to do something permanent or just don't like the look of the spear glued to the back (agreed...it usually doesn't blend well with the cape, etc.) then you can always have it look like the spear is stuck in the ground next to them, ready to be grabbed. If you pre-plan it you could even have some small holes in your base so you can put the spear in or not depending on how you want to have them equipped for that game. I've done something a little similar with having some bow & quiver sets that I can put on bases with some WE w/ spear models, allowing me to have some bow/spear units.

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Wait ye the finish! The fight is not yours.
Beowulf

http://TacticsInMiniature.com

Here is how I made Spearchers (nice word by the way)

viewtopic.php?f=50&t=21927&start=20

I came up with a better way to make fletching. I just place a small amount of greenstuff at one end of the "arrow" and then cut out corners from plasticard, then press it into the greenstuff. Makes em look more areodynamic.

-Scar

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Free speech carries with it some freedom to listen. -B.M.

I am a WYSIWYG person, with a tendency to prefer things to have at least some prospect of feasible reality. I am perfectly comfortable with High Elves and Galadhrim archers having a sword handy as the overhead draw was shown in TTT. Spears are more cumbersome, especially as the Elves tend to favour those of greater length.
Then again, in a real fight, if you run out of arrows and there is a discarded spear lying nearby, you are hardly going to wait around empty-handed for the first smelly orc to come along and poke you in the gut with a sword - you will arm and defend yourself. Which doesn't really help within the rules of our games, does it? Rats...

One final thought:

Cocktail sticks are like dwarves: very dangerous over short distances.

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Why do people always put spears onto archers, when bows onto spearmen look so much better? More useful if you ever want to play WotR too.

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"I am the Flying Spagetti Monster. Thou shall have no other monsters before me"
-FSM.

Because it's a lot easier to glue a cocktail stick to a model's back and claim it's a spear than model something that looks like a bow and quiver

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Finished 2nd in the 2014 GBHL. My Wife's so proud

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The English longbowmen in the hundred years war often pounded stakes into the ground to ward off cavalry (and one suspects, vampires). Perhaps the "spear in the ground" could look something like that so when the archers are alone in a group it looks cool and not powergamey.

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"Release the Kragle!"
They were waiting 45 minutes to make that pun.
Totally worth it.

People put spears on their archers back because this game has a 33% bow limit and if you start putting archers on your spearman's back then 8 models from a 12 man box are armed with bows, meaning you have 6 useable models (4 with shield, 2 with spear and bow). Putting bows on the spear men means people have to pay twice as much real world money to get an army goin, which isn't really worth it when you can just put spears on your archers back (or in the ground), and it is somewhat unreasonable to expect people dish out tha extra monay just for a slight visual alteration.

That said, cocktail sticks are a joke, especially when you can buy a bag of 40 spears for £4 on gripping beast.