Elves have always been considered skilled in the arts of war and combat, this fact is undisputed in the warhammer world. However, there are those among the elven ranks who rise to a level beyond the common elf, and in doing so, becomes on par with the heroes of mankind in terms of weapon proficiency.
These are the Swordmasters of Hoeth, or SM for short, and it is generally agreed that their one and only purpose in any elven army is to fight.

A SM wields an elven great sword, which grants him a boost to his attack strength, and each SM may attack twice each turn. Couple this with their high weapon skill and the Speed of Asuryan, and you have a unit that will most likely kill anything that is foolish enough to engage them head on.
However, this is where the crux of the SM lies. How to get them into combat.

Thine enemy knows thee.
The fact is that any enemy that we will face will almost certainly fear even the smallest number of swordmasters and because of this, they will be a prime target for enemy shooting, and unlike their kindred, SM have no substantial protection against missile fire. With nothing but heavy armour to protect them, they are easily dispatched even by the lowliest peasant archers. Now, some of you might say that heavy armour is just as petty a protection against ranged attacks as it is in close combat, but if that is what you think you are forgetting something quite important. If you have as many SM as there are enemy units in the front rank, they will generally kill the front rank of any regiment they engage, and even if some survive, their high weapon skill will prevent most blows from reaching their frail elven flesh.

Hopscotch, the elven way. Or how to keep the SM from dying.
How can an elven general field a unit of SM without them succumbing to enemy missile fire? There are many ways, some more reliable than others, allow me to name a few.
For one, you can hide the SM, either behind your larger, more resilient blocks of Spears and Phoenix Guards, or in terrain features such as forests and buildings, or behind hills. All of these offer good protection against a unit of SM. Secondly, you can force the enemy to chose another target for his shooting. This can be achieved by simply fielding a dragon, which will in most cases prompt almost all enemy missile fire to aim at said dragon. However, this might be an expensive diversion, which is also much harder to dent with weaker missiles than the SM, so other possibilities are to field more than unit small unit of SM, hopefully allowing either both to reach the enemy in reduced numbers, or one to reach the enemy relatively unharmed. Dragon Princes, with their fearsome charge range and damage output are also a popular, and often more imminent threat for your opponent, and as such, they will also draw missile fire from your enemies.

As with most things, having one unit can be good sometimes, but having two doubles the chance of success. Of course, this is greatly dependent on how the enemy army is composed. A gunline is not a favoured opponent for a SM focused army, as they will most likely decimate the SM before they reach the enemy line. The high elven army book is a versatile one, and the general using it must adapt and become versatile as well. He or she must learn how to position and move his units to achieve the maximum effect out of each model.

Unit Sizes and appropriate tactics.
How are the SM best used then? There have been many discussions regarding this, and the general consensus appears to have been that the SM are best fielded in multiple small units, or MSU for short. Numbers of an MSU SM unit ranges from 5-8, with 7 being a kurosawa-inspired favourite. In a small unit, they are used to guard the flanks of larger units, aid them with flank charges, or to engage smaller enemy unit on their own. Due to their high damage output, they rely on kills to win combats, not ranks and numbers, as such, what matters is not ranks, but files, or as commonly called on these forums: Frontage. I won't expand into this here, but simply put, if you get seven SM within blade's reach, chances are very high that you'll win.

Fielding SM in larger numbers is counter productive in most cases. While rank bonuses are always nice to have, they are in most cases intended to keep a unit from breaking. A SM unit is not supposed to stay in any one combat for any extended amount of time, they are meant to come in swiftly, deliver enough damage to break the target unit and then move on to repeat the process. What I'm saying is that the SM are best intended as an aggressive support unit, acting as a "detachment" for the larger, rank & file units, such as Spearmen, Lothern Sea Guard and Phoenix Guards. With two strength five attacks each, even 4 SM can provide enough oomph to push a battle in the favour of your less destructive units. If you have a unit with enough unit strength to negate rank bonuses, breaking the enemy is almost a certainty, barring special rules such as undeath and stubborn.

However, there are cases when fielding a larger unit of swordmasters is a very viable option. Most notably would be against the Vampire Counts. due to their obvious lack of shooting, the only ranged assault the SM unit has to fear comes from magic which, despite the daunting Vampire magic phase, is quite easy to deal with for most high elven armies. Adding the banner of balance or the lion banner to the SM unit will allow them to fight evenly with almost any threat the Vampires might throw at you. However, just remember that they are still only elves, with nothing but heavy armour. Should a heavily protected combat-focused vampire lord engage your SM, do not expect them to survive for long. Although, in all fairness, the life expectancy of anything within blade's reach of a combat vampire is not really that long.

But I digress, a large block can be fielded when enemy shooting is not all-encompassing. Also, there are some theories that a larger block, due to expendable wounds, is more likely to reach the enemy while still being at full damage potential. This also serves another purpose, with a large unit of SM advancing on your enemies lines, they will focus a great deal of attention on them, and with enough wounds to get 5 or more SM into combat, you can use the situation to more other units into favourable positions without worrying about enemy missile fire which, in theory, should be occupied with reducing the SM into a, for the enemy, manageable number.

Force fields, activate!
I have talked about the frailty of the SM, but I haven't mentioned one of the most efficient ways of protecting them, a way that lies closely tied with their origin, the White Tower of Hoeth. I'm talking about magic.
The fickle winds of magic can give us a multitude of options to get our SM into combat, or prevent them from becoming pin-cushions.
Our very own lore of High Magic offers us a 5+ ward save in it's first spell, so even a scroll caddy can use it to buff the SM from frail to resilient.
Lore of shadows gives us the unseen lurker, which will more the swordmasters closer to the enemy, and closer to the "safety" of combat.
Lore of life holds the howler wind, that hampers enemy shooting, and the Rain lord, which disables all manner of ranged units, including certain war machines. And then we have access to the sacred incense, which sadly is five point to expensive for a Bladelord, that is the champion in a SM unit, to carry. This incense causes a -1 to hit for enemy shooting, and can help quite a lot. Alith Anar has the same ability, and while fielding both in a SM unit might seem like a stroke of genius, you're forgetting that cannonballs aren't affected.

There are of course more options, such as simply destroying the enemy ranged units before they can destroy your SM, but the elven general must never forget that his army consists of many units, and each one should show it's worth at least once during the battle. If you're not getting the SM into combat, you should re-evaluate how you use them, or consider switching them for something else. SM are not for everyone and should be handled responsibly.

In short, SM:
- are frail and die from almost anything that can hit them.
- kill almost anything that they can hit.
- are usually best used in smaller numbers as a "detachment".
- can occasionally be used in larger blocks provided that the enemy army is relatively low on shooting.
- can be protected with clever use of terrain, positioning them behind other units to screen the SM from ranged assault.
- can be shielded with magic.
- can be overshadowed by a larger threat in your army, such as dragon princes, a chariot, a dragon or another unit of swordmasters closer to a unit which your opponent holds dear.