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[blue emu]

I use a mix of Crossbows, Hammers and Battleaxes. Dwarves in training are first trained up as Wrestlers, but get a weapon assigned once they reach Legendary.

[ein]

I train some wrestling first, not to legendary though.
Then I assign weapons, usually swords and axes.
Squad leaders sometimes get hammers.
I usually don't have lots of armour, so leaders get some first, then other soldiers.
Marksdwarves skip the wrestling and go straight to leather and crossbow training.

[Quantum Toast]

Pretty much all wrestlers so far, I'll switch some to crossbows once I've got a decent stash of training bolts. Haven't decided on a melee weapon yet.

[MelloHero]

I'm a crossbow whore; I'll admit it.

[Grendus]

Give them leather and a steel shield - I usually have dozens from various sieges. Let them wrestle to legendary+5. This gives them a fair amount of shield and armor skill as well as a very high dodge (and a nasty surprise for any orc/gobbo wrestler that tries to grab them). Then give them chain or plate made of iron or steel and a base quality silver or modded 1 damage weapon, let them spar up to at least professional. Then unleash them on unsuspecting goblins/orcs/kobolds/megabeasts/rhesus macaques. Works like a charm.

[majic13]

I let them wrestle their way up to Legendary, which gives me time to build up a big stockpile of bone bolts. Then once they've hit Champion I give them each an iron crossbow and let them shoot at targets whenever they're not on active duty. Crossbows serve me pretty well, as they count as hammers in close combat and let the dorfs whack enemies across the screen.

[Retro]

Due to how overpowered a few dwarfs (or even one can get), I figure not to bother with a massive army and just have seven migrants from the first or second wave start training. Wrestling is key, with each champ training past Legendary until they all have visibly-perfect stats. Then they get some swords and train in those until legendary, then axes, etc., getting Armor User and Shield User as they go. I keep them grouped, too; the whole force changes weapons once all of them are Legendary in their old ones together. Hammers are coming up soon, and I'm getting excited; I can't wait to see them knock gobbos around.

But yeah, the military's never been my biggest focus. Hell, this is the first fort I've played where I've bothered to even train dwarves in anything but crossbows (incidentally, no dwarf on this fort is getting crossbow training at all). Going for trapless melee fighting all the way.

[zchris13]

Fists. of death.

▼▼That too.

[darthbob88]

Wrestling to at least great, trained with full armour and shield. After that, they get weapons and train further. Preferred weapons are spear, hammer, and axe, with sword coming in very shortly after that.
Also, anybody who gets drafted for any reason trains until they're no longer a recruit, just so that when they get drafted for live combat they a) don't complain too loudly, and b) can actually fight worth a damn.

[Psychoceramics]

Hammers because Goblin Golf is HILARIOUS

[Hortun]

Well, since I usually settle near a magma pipe, I usually have a huge stockpile of obsidian shortswords and those tend to be my starting weapons. Later I usually throw in hammers and maybe spears since they can be reused in upright spike traps. I like to keep about 2/5 of my squads on marksdwarf duty.

Armoring, I give melee a base coat of leather and then plate on top. Archers get leather so they can move faster, at least until they're elite and move super fast anyways. Then I might give them mail.

I know it's dangerous to train new recruits with weapons, but I do it anyways, especially if they've been toughened up already with a working skill. If they die or get injured, then that's one less dwarf who needs to be pathed.

Also, I like to put my barracks around the main entrance to my fort above ground, then put in tons of glass windows. That way if some little kobold thief or ambush shows up, I don't even need to activate a squad, they'll just see him while they're training and rush out to lop his face off.

[Fien]

True dorfs use axes and hammers.

Obsidian short swords are acceptable too.

[blue emu]

Also, I like to put my barracks around the main entrance to my fort above ground, then put in tons of glass windows. That way if some little kobold thief or ambush shows up, I don't even need to activate a squad, they'll just see him while they're training and rush out to lop his face off.

I put my barracks OUTSIDE... in the courtyard of my castle. This guarantees that my Military will never suffer from Cave Adaptation (which otherwise can stun them when they go outdoors).

[Derakon]

I pretty much stick to hammers, because they don't get stuck in the enemy. Occasionally I'll have one or two dwarves take up the crossbow, but generally I just stick to hammers.

[Kanddak]

Due to how overpowered a few dwarfs (or even one can get), I figure not to bother with a massive army and just have seven migrants from the first or second wave start training. Wrestling is key, with each champ training past Legendary until they all have visibly-perfect stats. Then they get some swords and train in those until legendary, then axes, etc., getting Armor User and Shield User as they go. I keep them grouped, too; the whole force changes weapons once all of them are Legendary in their old ones together. Hammers are coming up soon, and I'm getting excited; I can't wait to see them knock gobbos around.

I've done this but I did hammers first after wrestling. Any dwarf who took a spinal injury became a marksdwarf, and I wanted the marksdwarves to have legendary hammer skills.
Chain + plate for everyone; once they get a couple skills up to legendary, their speed's not going to suffer.