Berserkers

[Stefan the Berserker]

Many of you might have heard about Berserkers before, also Berserkers will appear in the Viking Invasion.

Berserkers were conscripted out of Men which had to suffer a lot under the People they should fight against (against Roman those who had probs with the Romans, against Slavs someguys who hated the Slavs).

After those Men who already had a "natural hate" against their future "Targets". They were then chucked together into groups and began FIRST the pyscic conditioning. They told each other their stories (which logically increased the hate) and did Uesetia Meditation on negative Runes every day. They were so heavyly conditioned, that you might think the were under Influence of the Drug "Speed" or something.

They were absolute Fanatics and chucked in Battle for the worst but oftenly most important Duties, Sucide Missions Breaking the Enemy Line, Kill a General, start Massacre http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/eek.gif ...

Also in English you still have "going on Berserk"...

I call myself Berserker, but... I DON'T WANT TO BE ONE
You can possibly now imgine how they were like... Viking-SS or something, but STRONG

[TheDanesZandy]

The accutal histrorical fackt about " beserkers " is quit simple . The Vikings are the inventers of the word and the action . When the vikings vent to battel they had acording to the sagas ( our old viking books)a habbit off drinking a lot of " mjød " (beer) and in the beer they put a certain mushroom ( red amanita ) wich containded LSD , this made the vikings very violent also among them self .

Imangine a hord og vikings on beer and LSD leaving a longboat with nothing but murder and rape on thier minds , along the french coast is plenty og decribitons about the furious vild vikings who was imposible to beat evnen if they where hard wounded they still fought on , as they belived that being killed in battel was a sure space in walhalla next to our gods Thor and Odin .

The word Beskerk is danish and real beserkers where the vikings , this has then been adapted by many others over the world since that and a a good sign that even now allmost a 1000 years later thier names and habbits still lives on .

The Danes Zandy

The Danes Clan (http://www.foxypro.dk/danes/thedanes1.htm)

[ShadeFlanders]

Let's not the forget the celts/gauls had berserkers of their own that went to battle NAKED.

[rasoforos]

i d love to see a hoard of beserkers having an after battle hangover , it sounds really funny http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

[Stephen Hummell]

the berserkers i believe werent used that much by the norse. only by this one king to gain power of the throne and then they were dibanded. but i wouldnt want to face drunken and high 300 pound men with beards ever

[rasoforos]

well i guess their only weakness was their achilles' liver http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

[Leet Eriksson]

Berserkers(called Bareskins)are shirtless warriors(they prefered mobility over heavy armor)and they carry pretty large double bladed axes(think abyssinian guard but with steroids).

[Brother Derfel]

Quote[/b] (TheDanesZandy @ Jan. 12 2003,08:55)]The word Beskerk is danish and real beserkers where the vikings , this has then been adapted by many others over the world since that and a a good sign that even now allmost a 1000 years later thier names and habbits still lives on .

The Danes Zandy

The Danes Clan (http://www.foxypro.dk/danes/thedanes1.htm)
Actualy the work Berserkir derived from the Danish for 'Bear- Shirt' as the one of the two cults of Beserkir often wore Bear Skins, the others, the 'Ulfendar'(Sp) wore Wolf Skins/.
They did indeed get themselves entoxicated before battle and psyched themselves up into a blood lust, caring not for their own safety and instead launching themselves at their foe. This made them very dangerous to badly led/disciplined troops or those with little moral, but an experienced veteran who kept cool could easily deal with one as they had no concern for defending themselves.
Often the beserkers would acompney ordinary Viking Hird, and as the unit was about to enter combat with the enemy they would launch their Beserkir at the enemy hoping for them to do as much damage to the opposing sheild wall before their own closed with it.

I think therefor that the Beserkirs should be a very feared unit, perhaps causing fear in poor troops, but when faced with hardened veterans they should not be so strong, as after all tey were only frenzied mad men that could be dealt with if you kept your head.

[Vrashk]

I think scientits are not sure actually whether they worse bearskins or nothing..

reasons I've heard:

Bär-särk (in swedish) Särk is a kind of undershirt if I remember correctly..

"bare-särk" means they went to battle in only their särk, not wearing much
Or it could be "bear-serk" wearing a bearskin as the shirt.

[Hakonarson]

There should be no units of berserkers at all - true berserkers were few and far between, often with a fmily history of the behaviour, and quite popular with Viking Lords as tax collectors - who's going to refuse one??

Drunken warriors are a common feature of almost every army in history and should not be mistaken for berserkers - booze helps dull the sense of self preservation that would make a sane man flee from imminent slaughter

Viking armies should only haev a few troop types -

1/ Leidang, in seperate units with and without bows but otherwise all armed and armoured the same - shield, sword helmet, spear, the richer ones with metal body armour.

2/ Huscarles - all the various grades of kings servant and soldier. all with body armour - only these guys would use 2-handed axes in any numbers, but all would also have sword, shield and spear.

3/ a few scouts - mounted or on foot.

And that's about it - after 1100 the Hucarles would include a number of cavalry essentially the equivalent of European knights.

There might also be allies from German cities in eth baltic, or Slavic tribes. Vikings in the British Isles might include local allies - Scots, English, Irish as appropriate.

Islemen - Vikings from the Hebrides after breeding with the locals would all be slightly lunatic according to the histories, but are divided into only 2 troop types - those with body armour and those without - better adn worser respectively - both were armed with sword and shield.

Any other troops in a Viking army are nonsense, yet I get the impressin there's going to be all sorts of things included - perhaps the title should be "Fantasy: total war"? http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/frown.gif

[Leet Eriksson]

Quote[/b] (Brother Derfel @ Jan. 12 2003,14:02)]
Quote[/b] (TheDanesZandy @ Jan. 12 2003,08:55)]The word Beskerk is danish and real beserkers where the vikings , this has then been adapted by many others over the world since that and a a good sign that even now allmost a 1000 years later thier names and habbits still lives on .

The Danes Zandy

The Danes Clan (http://www.foxypro.dk/danes/thedanes1.htm)
Actualy the work Berserkir derived from the Danish for 'Bear- Shirt' as the one of the two cults of Beserkir often wore Bear Skins, the others, the 'Ulfendar'(Sp) wore Wolf Skins/.
They did indeed get themselves entoxicated before battle and psyched themselves up into a blood lust, caring not for their own safety and instead launching themselves at their foe. This made them very dangerous to badly led/disciplined troops or those with little moral, but an experienced veteran who kept cool could easily deal with one as they had no concern for defending themselves.
Often the beserkers would acompney ordinary Viking Hird, and as the unit was about to enter combat with the enemy they would launch their Beserkir at the enemy hoping for them to do as much damage to the opposing sheild wall before their own closed with it.

I think therefor that the Beserkirs should be a very feared unit, perhaps causing fear in poor troops, but when faced with hardened veterans they should not be so strong, as after all tey were only frenzied mad men that could be dealt with if you kept your head.
I thought wolf skins were called "Ulfsarks"or was that in another language?

also vikings were originally norwegian if i'm not mistaken.

[Brother Derfel]

Quote[/b] (Hakonarson @ Jan. 12 2003,19:43)]Viking armies should only haev a few troop types -

1/ Leidang, in seperate units with and without bows but otherwise all armed and armoured the same - shield, sword helmet, spear, the richer ones with metal body armour.

2/ Huscarles - all the various grades of kings servant and soldier. all with body armour - only these guys would use 2-handed axes in any numbers, but all would also have sword, shield and spear.

3/ a few scouts - mounted or on foot.

And that's about it - after 1100 the Hucarles would include a number of cavalry essentially the equivalent of European knights.

There might also be allies from German cities in eth baltic, or Slavic tribes. Vikings in the British Isles might include local allies - Scots, English, Irish as appropriate.

Islemen - Vikings from the Hebrides after breeding with the locals would all be slightly lunatic according to the histories, but are divided into only 2 troop types - those with body armour and those without - better adn worser respectively - both were armed with sword and shield.

Any other troops in a Viking army are nonsense, yet I get the impressin there's going to be all sorts of things included - perhaps the title should be "Fantasy: total war"? http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/frown.gif
If i am not mistaken, the Leidang were not Vikings at all, but another kingdom that ran contemporary with the Vikings. Perhaps you meat Hird, as they were the common foot soldier of the Vikings, led by their thegn.

Huscarls would be in no great number, being the equivalent of Knights regarding their cost and training in cmparison to the average soldier.

Since the scouts were in such small numbers, i can;t see a unit of them being justified in TW terms as it would have to be very small and almost completely uneffective.


I also don;t think there were enough true Beserkir to justify a unit, and indeed as I have already mentioned they were not cowded together in a group, but dispersed amoung the rank and file.

I too am getting worried that Viking Invasion may be stepping into the realms of Fantacy. Especialy when i saw the viking in a horned helmet on the viking invasion site.........not promising.......

[Sjakihata]

Quote[/b] ]in walhalla next to our gods Thor and Odin

He he, well it is not my gods http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif

And yeah most of the vikings did drink a lot of mead, and someone used funguses to enhance their wrath.

However, my personal oppinion on this matter, is that you cannot talk about "a berserker". Indeed, some warriors were more brave (maybe even foolish) than others, and because vikings were more primitive in their appearance, then English and French perhaps believed that all of them had the wild abilities?

I think the berserker is very rare occasions where a small group charged, and defeated a superior enemy. That tale had then prevailed, and we (the common conception of) the vikings as being more brutal and berserk-ish than normal people. It is true, I think, that in old times danes, germans, gauls, swedes etc (north peopel) were more rough and tough (hard weather conditions) than the standard, which could have helped improve the image of the vikings as possesing super powers http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif

(Tho some danes still do)

http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/wave.gif

[Vlad The Impaler]

well just look to the Gladiator startt scene ( the battle in Germany ) .bersekers could an be easy prey when they are fighting with good soldiers lead by good generals

[RunAway!!]

As my history professor said...the only thing really historically accurate in that movie was that there were actually gladiators in Rome...

[Hakonarson]

A Scandenavian army fighting at home is not Viking - it is Leidang. Leidang is the term for the militia in a Scandenavian army - the term "Viking" itself just means voyager (or raider or similar), so was applied to those Scandenavians who sailed away.

Hird is the elite of a Scandenavian army and includes various ranks such as Huscarles, Gesters, Thegns, Candleswein and Trencherswein and a couple of others that I forget.

Bondi are the "ordinary" troops - the militia if you like, so I think I got my words a little mixed up there.

[MacGregor]

The history channel had a show called "Unconvential War" on earlier tonight that had a segment on Berserkers. It was pretty interesting, apparently Berserkers were outlawed eventually because they became brigands due to their need to be fighting someone and anyone.

They also had a good segment on Genghis Khan and the Golden Hordes and it's tactics. I imagine it'll be rebroadcast later tonight if anyone wants to catch it.

[ICantSpellDawg]

oh you fruits missed it


AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

[Vrashk]

Hey Vlad those are not berserkers they're just barbarians

[Foreign Devil]

Quote[/b] (MacGregor @ Jan. 13 2003,23:09)]The history channel had a show called "Unconvential War" on earlier tonight that had a segment on Berserkers. It was pretty interesting, apparently Berserkers were outlawed eventually because they became brigands due to their need to be fighting someone and anyone.
The History Channel also had an episode of "Conquest" on axes, and they briefly discussed Berserkers.

Both shows were interesting.

[Stefan the Berserker]

There are diffrent versions of "Berserkers", but all have in common that they are fanatic and mostly stupid Warrors...

The Southern Germanic one I discribed was based on Hate, but they also took drugs anyway...

[Vlad The Impaler]

RunAway i agree that the story doesnt have nothin to do with reality but what about the battle from the beggining ? that looks proudy accurate but maybe i'm mistaken.can u explain me ?