Japanese Banzai and Russian Berserkers


  • Use this rule when attacking or defending against a superior force during any single round of combat, AND the Japanese or Russian force is composed of infantry and/or mech units only. ALSO, combat must be in originally controlled Japanese or Russian territories.
    When attacking:  Japanese and Russian player announces a Banzai/Berserk attack.
    Each attacking unit rolls 1 die with results taken by the attacker and/or 1 defending inf, mech,
    or tank unit; 1 = defender elim, 2-3 = defender and attacker eilim,  4 = no effect,
    5-6 = attacker elim.  Any defending units lost cannot make any defensive rolls.
    When defending:  The Japanese and Russian player have the option of doing a special defensive roll before the attacker rolls any dice for any 1 round in a battle for a territory.  
    The defensive player announces a Banzai or Berserk roll of his units.  Each defending unit rolls 1 die with results taken by the defender and/or 1 attacking inf, mech, or tank unit;
    1 = attacker elim, 2 = attacker retreats, 3 = attacker and defender elim,  4 = no effect,
    5-6 = defender elim.  Any attacking units lost cannot make any attacking rolls.

  • '17 '16

    Please give us an example.
    It is not clear how it works.


  • If I’m not mistaken, berserkers were Viking warriors who got so pumped up in battle that they’d act as though they’d downed a six-pack of Red Bull.  I’ve never heard the term applied to the Red Army.  On the other hand, it’s true that the Russians in WWII could be pretty aggressive; as I recall, the Soviet troops at the Battle of the Oder-Neisse in April 1945 were so eager to attack that, when the order to cross the rivers was given, some of the men just dove straight into the water without bothering to use the assault boats.


  • Rule has been re-written.  Its essentially a preemptive action with results taken immediately.  Note the attack or defense could start with any type of units, but if losses reduce the Japanese or Russian player to inf and/or mech only - then this rule could be invoked.

  • Customizer


  • Here’s another example of how determined ordinary Soviet infantrymen could be, especially in engagements with high symbolic value.  In a book that he wrote, Marshal Chuikov describes an incident that allegedly occured during the Red Army’s assault on Berlin.  A Soviet tank somehow got isolated during the street fighting for the city and was damaged by a German anti-tank round.  All but one of its crew were killed.  The surviving (though wounded) crewman kept working the main gun, loading and aiming and firing it by himself.  When the main gun ran out of ammunition, or was wrecked by another enemy hit (I can’t remember which; I read the book a long time ago), the Russian soldier proceeded to fire the tank’s machine gun at the nearby Germans.  When that ran out of ammunition, he started lobbing grenades out of the tank to drive off the Germans who were pounding on the hull and demanding that he surrender.  A fresh Soviet unit finally arrived and forced the Germans to retreat.  The Russian reinforcements got into the wrecked tank and found the last crewman inside.  He was dying of his wounds, but he was holding a knife in his hand, ready to use it to make a final stand against any German soldier who had tried to enter the tank.  After telling the other soldiers what had happened, his final words were supposedly, “Thank you, comrades, for not leaving my body in the hands of the Fascists.”

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