Now first of all I all for the idea of a independent Skyrim ruled by the nords, but we all the thalmor are going to start a war with skyrim(depending on what side you choose.) But one thing is bothering me is one country is going against three! I mean the more I think about it the harder it seems for me to actually see the stormcloaks winning. Now I imagined the battle and the only few things I saw that gives the stormcloaks advantage is; 1: Knows the terrain very well, meaning traps can be layed and sneaking up on them in the middle of the night could give them a good advantage, 2: Dragons are now in skyrim and am sure the Altmeri Dominion will have trouble with them. So far that all I see for the stormcloaks.



Now for the Dominion I see two advantages that will help them defeat the cloaks in skyrim. 1: Magic, the nords in skyrim don't like magic given the histroy with elves and the oblivion gate appearing all over the place. But what they hate will be there downfall for example take a group of thalmor and place them in storm cloak camp and this how the scenario could go. A thalmor mage could chain lighting a few times causing many deaths, while the others could rely on fire magic or conjured atronachs for suppport. Now the only way I see the cloaks winning are over whelming amount troops or learning how to shout(I know they can't but since nords have the potenial I consider that a valuable potenial assest given that the greybeards decide to unravel centuries of peace and quiet just to kick some thalmor butt but that not likely going to happen, so the only other training method is the school of the voice in Markarth which is missing from the game. Anyway onward to the second advantage. 2: a over whelming amount of troops, since skyrim is one country and the Dominion is three( Khajit homeland,bosmer homeland, and the high elves homeland) I don't see how could they win beside the guerilla warfare on there terrain, but even that will eventually stop working once the thalmor have a good layout of the land( but I expect them to already have one since many are roaming skyrim already and I wouldn't be suprised if the group were taking notes about the land.

Now as you see the cloaks advantages are pretty good but both of them have a sore spot, 1 can be defeated by the enemy learning the land or if they have not already. 2: Now I thought about the dragons swooping in and killing a bunch of dominion soldiers, but the same thing can be applied to the cloaks since dragons aren't really friendly with the locals. Now you see both advantages can be easily be dealt with or left alone in dragons case. Now the Dominion advantages can be overturn as well but that would be going against nord culture. 1 can be dealt with easily...... If the Nords accept magic! Seriously magic could solve there problems with the thalmor easily, but since a lot of them are thick headed or simply dumb not to see it I doubt it would happen.




Now a few things I want to mention, I consider the Dragonborn and given that he learns all shouts to full potenial I can see him or her being a very powerful assest in the war, assuming he or she doesn't get jump by 15 powerful thalmor who all are experts or at least adept in various schools of magic. Another thing I wanted to mention is if the nords don't want to use magic the thalmor use, then the only other option that can give them a winning chance is shouts! One man learning 3 fully word shouts are as dangerous as a Dragur death lord assuming the shouts are lethal, but given the event at red mountain for the nords shouting is made to be peaceful(bah!) so the only other option is the school of the voice which apparently is missing from skyrim.


So stormcloaks supporters do you have any idea how can we still win this beside the stuff I mention?

The dovahkiin can single handedly turn a civil war, which was in stalemate for months, into a decisive and total victory for whatever side he wants within a matter of ingame days, I seriously doubt the Thalmor scare him.

Surrender to the Imperials and add your ranks to the Imperial army, then go and kick some Thalmor butt ...

People seem to be under this impression that the Thalmor have an immense army. Probably because of the garbage coming out of the random imperial guard mouths.

Examine the thalmor tactics in http://www.imperial-library.info/content/rising-threat and recall the outcome of http://www.imperial-library.info/content/great-war. Oddly familiar to the situation in Skyrim isn't it? The majority of Valenwood either fled or was killed. A good deal of altmer in summerset were purged and a large number of their forces were completely destroyed in the war. The Khajiit don't seem to be interested in acting militarily just allowing thalmor access and providing resources.

Secondly. If you've ever listened in on Ulfric talking to Galmar or beaten the CW in the stormcloak's favor you'd know Ulfric doesn't plan on attacking the Thalmor alone. He's already trying to get support from High Rock and Hammerfell.

Keep in mind that the entire Aldmeri Dominion could not conquer Hammerfell, even after the Empire abandoned it. After conquering the southern half of the country before the Battle of Red Ring Road and the signing of the White Gold Concordant, they made no headway at all. This is in spite of the fact that at that point they were able to bring the entire might of the Dominion to bear against the Redguards. At that time Hammerfell was completely alone, as the Empire had abandoned them. Yet the Redguards threw the Dominion out of Hammerfell after five years.

Now the Nords only distrust magic. Note that many of Skyrim's guards proclaim that they have a lot of respect for the school of restoration. The Redguards are the ones who actively despise magic. No self-respecting Redguard would ever use it, not even healing magic. Yet the Redguards took everything the AD could muster and gave back better. So not only do you not need magic to defeat the Dominion, you do not even need even odds. The Redguards did it outnumbered 3 provinces to 1 without slinging a single Flames spell. The truth is the Aldmeri Dominion is a house of cards. They have nothing left. Otherwise they would have held onto Hammerfell. Let alone they never would have had to sign the White Gold Concordant. If they could have, they would have taken what they wanted through military force. But they simply do not possess that power.

From a personal gameplay note, my Stormcloak Hrafngoelir only ever used one spell, the starting healing spell. She never had any trouble mowing through Thalmor soldiers or mages. Or anyone else for that matter.

Do the Thalmor have a dragon on call 24/7 for the sole purpose of incinerating their enemies? No? I didn't think so.

I only joined the Stormcloaks for the chaos factor. I was hoping I could turn on Ulfric later on. Some people just want to watch the world burn.