Board Thread:Lore Discussion/@comment-1600847-20161103125247/@comment-993964-20161110093947

YinyangElementofduality wrote: 1.Ulfric is not physically more capable to fight in war. He is physically more capable in Assault scale due to his Thu'um ability.

2.Patience in war dialogue as you said, has many problems against Ulfric. Number one, he is making the most amateurish and unforgivable mistake in the art of war. Relying solely on getting numbers to defeat his foe. Tullius who can make do with what he has. It is not just the Stormcloaks who are gaining troops, the Imperials have people joining them as well. It was stated clearly that Skyrim's opinion was divided between Stormcloaks and Imperials.

3.First, Tullius did not send his men to death. Ulfric did. It was Ulfric's men that was being slaughtered from the dialogue. Second Ulfric is ignorant of the strategic value of Winterhold, seeing the Empire's attempt to take Winterhold as foolish. The Imperials have the Rift, acquiring Winterhold will result in a complete surrounding of Windhelm and ideal for a pincer strike. I am surprised you didn't see such a 101 level's value.

Tullius was sending his men to take Winterhold with strategic purpose. Ulfric was sending his men to gain sympathy of the people. He is getting people but numbers doesn't account into anything when he thinks having numbers gives him the power to achieve his goal?

Strategic vs utterly useless emotions.

Never attempt to overpower your foe with just numbers - Art of War.

Ulfric's line of thinking is having numbers will help him win back his losses. He's got another thing coming.

Have he forgotten the Imperial soldiers that slaughtered his soldiers? The soldiers who gained power at the expense of his power? He clearly did. Sending new soldiers to fight those? He's just giving those guys greater and greater power which will eventually come back to bite him in the backside.

Hence, your statement of 4. my assessment proving Ulfric is a better leader is false. If anything,  Ulfric just threw his right as a leader away with his statement. 1. And thus could use the Thuum to kill Tullius like he did Torygg. Making Ulfric the better combatant.

2. He's not relying on numbers to win his war, he's recruiting assets. It says he gains allies and friends, assets that can give his men supplies, weapons, intelligence, hidden bases, as well as fighters, Wars are built on those foundations, people who dismiss the aspect of building a solid combat support, and civilian combat support, and focus only on the army clearly doesn't know anything about war.

3. It's clear from the quote that Ulfric sees that Tullius' men has no chance of taking Winterhold, regardless of its strategic value and so Tullius is sending his men to their deaths for nothing, thus him "gladly accepting the gift". Tullius is throwing away his own men's lives, and Ulfric considers it a gift. Pretty sure it's the Imperials getting slaughtered as well, but Ulfric had an upside, Tullius' gambit didn't as his op had no chance of succeeding.