I'm getting confused by the skills of the berserker between 5.1 rules and book of battle 2. I'm sorry if this question has been posted, but my searching yielded no answer to my pondering.

In KAP5.1 p.178 a Saxon Berserker has Great Axe 19, and the text claims that they regularly use uncontrolled attack. With a successfull Love Wotan, and the rules uncontrolled attack, they end up with 39 in skill, but the opponent gets a free attack with +10 first.

In Book of battle, regular berserker have 18 in skill. BUT the symbol marks them as fanatics.
On page 61 in BoB II, in the description of fanaticism, it states that the bonus from a successful "passion" is already included in the number.

Does this mean that the berserker in BoB have a skill of 8 (half of that of the berserker in KAP5.1) before adding a passion bonus of +10? And if they crit the passion-roll, they get 28? (20 for crit +8).

What am I missing here?

Bonus question:
Do you recommend using the rules for uncontrolled attack with the berserkers in BoB? I am assuming it is not included in the numbers.

I'm getting confused by the skills of the berserker between 5.1 rules and book of battle 2. I'm sorry if this question has been posted, but my searching yielded no answer to my pondering.

What am I missing here?

You are only missing what is not written, so I will take responsibility
The two stats are for different purposes, and so are not the same
Berserkers are still kill crazy, but I toned them down for the BoB so that every encounter is not a deadly one
They are bad enough at 18 to not also have a double damage, which is almost certain to be fatal

You, and everyone, have my permission to change any stat you see according to your GM desires


Bonus question:
Do you recommend using the rules for uncontrolled attack with the berserkers in BoB? I am assuming it is not included in the numbers.

Basically, berserker = uncontrolled attack

Thank you very much for the answer Greg. :)

I'll make some sort of tweak to get it right.