Elmetiacos: if you feel that swinging a two-handed weapon around your head is an incorrect way to use it, how do you think it should be used. The way you say this reminds me of the long-held myth about Landsknecht two-handed swordsmen, the Dopplesoldners who used the zweihander/beidhander, which claimed that they swung the swords around their heads to cut the heads off of enemy pikes. This myth happens to be untrue, as these swordsmen used the great length of their swords to jab at opponents from within the great mixed-pike formations of the Landsknecht mercanary core. However, the rhomphaia is a very different weapon, and its use continued for over a thousand years into the Byzantine empire, where it is said to have been a favorite of the Varangian guardsmen. How exactly the rhomphaia was used is not fully known, but from what we know about its cousin the falx, overhead slashing may not be completely out of bounds. Indeed, as the rhomphaia is a cutting/slashing weapon and not a stabbing weapon like the zweihander, it seems reasonable that at least some of the time it was used overhead. Also take into account other single edged swords like the falcata and the saber. These are known to have been used in an over-arm, over-the-head slashing motion to cut through armor or clothing. While these weapons are small enough that they do not suffer agility penalties, the rhomphaia is a much bigger weapon, even bigger in some cases than the falx, though admittedly not as big as the zweihander.

From this, I would say that the Rhomphaiaphoroi might need to have their attack or lethality checked/raised (funny that even the lowly Thrakioi Peltastai have higher lethality than the Rhomphaiaphoroi [probably just something that was overlooked]) while the Gaesatae and Tindanotae should have their shields' defence value lowered (AFAIK the only other units to have a 4 in this catagory are hoplites etc.).

Also, as several others already mentioned, the Rhomphaiaphoroi are an AP unit, designed for cracking open heavily armored elite units, like a can opener. Against unarmored units, they are not nearly as effective; this is the way it has always been in TW games and was how it was in history: the mighty can-opening hoplite of the Greek city-states floundered incredibly easily against completely unarmored Thracian peltasts until the ekdromoi was invented and used.

I hope this clears some things up.

Chairman