I love the Dwarven Spearmen! They have rocked in every game I've used them. But today, I got the Hundred Years War expansion and saw the rules for the Halberd and I got really uncertain if I have understood the Spear rules correctly. On th Spear card it says:

"Bonus strike: - Yes on <sword and shield>". And then it contiues: "Special: Against Mounted units, one <sword and shield> rolled is ignored."

I always thought this was supposed to mean that when a spear unit is attacked by a Mounted unit, it ignores one bonus hit from the attacker. But as I read the Halberd rules I get uncertain. Halberd rules read:

"Bonus strike: Yes, on all <sword and shield>, even against Mounted units."

Does this mean that Spear does ignore one bonus hit when attacking Mounted units (like the Shortsword)? (I.e. if it rolls three bonus hits, it only scores two hits?)

Silverheart said:

This is correct.

A Spear is better than a Short Sword because you get +1 die on the Battle Back. Otherwise, it is exactly the same.

A Halberd is better than a Spear because there is no Sword on Shield reduction. Otherwise, it is exactly the same.

Thank you for the swift reply. I find it weird, though. That Spear has no advantage over the shortsword against mounted units. I always interpreted the (misunderstood) ignore one bonus hit from Mounted units as its bonus against Mounted. Too bad. Well, they are quite good nonetheless, especially bold.

The Spear is a defensive weapon which is why it gets the +1 in Battle Back. That is the advantage.