Here is a little something I wrote for Richard and JD a while ago:
Classical period ‘barbarian’ infantry are not usually fielded in themed competitions (where they should be seen), and one reason cited is that with Roman legionaries able to be Armoured and Skilled Swordsmen (when Superior/Elite quality) the chances of the barbarians winning is practically nil – as, whilst they are on even POAs at Impact (although probably lesser quality), they are 2 POAs down in melee as well as being of inferior quality. History suggest that as long as the Romans held the initial rush they should beat these barbarians after a tough fight, however, at present the subsequent fight is a very rapid defeat for the barbarians – too quick to be credible. In fact, even if the Romans suffer a disastrous initial impact (double cohesion drop), their advantages in the melee phase are so great that it is still a pretty even fight. Again this cannot be right.
Even the Dacian Falxmen, who we know were a danger to legionaries, are quite vulnerable as Skilled Swordsmen negates the Heavy Weapon PoA in melee meaning that the Falxmen are a PoA down in both Impact and Melee phases and, thus, likely to lose the fight – an even fight would be more realistic, although we have to accept that they will be a PoA down at Imapct due to the way the Imapct PoAs are, and which should be left as is. In fact, the best use for the Falxmen is as rear support for the ordinary warriors, which means the game is giving the wrong incentives on how to use these troops as they should be the part of the Dacian army that Romans have some concerns about.
Therefore, to adjust the interaction to make it more historical I would suggest the following amendments to the army lists:
All Roman legionaries and Seleucid ‘Roman’ Argyraspides, who are listed with Skilled Swordsmen capability in the army list books are, instead, to be classified as ‘Swordsmen’ only. Additionally, their points cost is reduced by 1 point per base - for example Late Republican Roman legionaries are 13 points instead of the 14 points in Rise of Rome. This reduction, obviously, applies to legionaries in allied contingents as well as main lists, and any Roman legionaries in other armies (such as Later Ptolemaic) which are not in allied contingents.
These changes would affect “Rise of Rome” and “Legions Triumphant”.
So basically I don't think SSw needs to be removed, although it should be taken from Romans and Roman Argyraspides to get the interactions with barbarians correct, however, I think I'd suggest that it has a ++ PoA in the melee phase for specialist effective swordsmen such as the Spanish Sword & Bucklermen, and a check of the lists for others who may need a rethink would be useful.