Quote Originally Posted by antisocialmunky View Post
It was something I heard a long time ago so I don't remember the source but as you know. However, as you know they were quite plentiful and made themselves troublesome when there were no wars and were outlawed for a variety of reasons. They were also considered traitors because they had a bad habit of killing friend and foe alike.

I would love to hear your opinions of how crazed shocktroop type guys faired in battle.
There are so many misconceptions about "Berserkers", they fascinate us, tingle the mind... and we know so very little, so there is so much scope for our fantasy to create interpretations. Ranging from elite armoured troops wearing bear coats as a special sign of their elite status, over individuals with troll blood going crazy (Egil and Skallagrim) to just normal combat rage and to naked, religious fanatics on mushrooms...

Personally I think they would fare well on the initial charge, but then be cut to ribbons as does anyone who does not care about defense- RL is not like the Hollywood "all-offense" doctrine we see in films... Ignoring pain or not, it is hard to walk, run or fight for long with your guts hanging out, a sarrissae in the throat/eye that you neglected to defend, your leg sinews cut and the like. I suspect a trained warrior using the distance advantage his sword and height gives him and keeping his head cool is much more dangerous.

Consider also that Poybius might have embellished for effect, all authors of antiquity and the middle ages did that. Indeed, all authors tend to for effect, even myself. Taking them (us?) at face value is a dubious thing.

What would be scary would be seeing them pull out javelins and such, but... veterans would know that they themselves, when on a combat high, would not notice non-debilitating wounds. Cause that happens to all men.

Viking berserkers I cannot comment much on, for I know enough to know that we know very little but fantasy, but not enough to make an analysis (and I know more than most mind you).

Gallic naked dudes... I think would be in trouble against veterans, but might scare green troops. But again we know too little, and have too few actual sources to make a real analysis. And as with the Vikings, this leaves much room for fantasy to work its unenlightening ways...