As the god of war, people assume Ares is the ultimate soldier. A master of pretty much all weapons and forms of combat. A good if not excellent tactician bravely charging into battle leading men to victory due to vast knowledge and experience. One writer went so far as to describe Thor as the warrior, Hercules as the fighter, and Ares as the soldier. Yet isn't he a poor soldier and tactician? He often disobeys orders and pursues his own agenda regardless of orders or how it affects others. The few battles he has planned have him abandoning the element of surprise or use of any resources aside from a direct attack that promises high casualties on his side and maximum resistance from the other.

The big kicker is we have this quote: The chain of command. Rules of engagement. This Geneva Convention thing. Medical evac. Supply lines. The white flag. The Red Cross. Worrying about evacuees and refugees. Taking prisoners. Losing the battle but winning the war. Cursed diplomats. The proper standard of grooming. Sensible things like having enough bullets before you go into battle. That's the dung my sister cares about. I'm the other God of War.

So Ares ignores virtually everything needed to win a war and more often then not gets his butt kicked because he ignore all of this? How many wars has he actually won? Is he a poor god of war then or only a good one if you restrict him to the killing and slaughter aspects of it?

@seekquaze: He truly is the essence of war, the anger, the rage and the pain.

Winning the war is less important to having the war.

Ares is only the god of one aspect of war, he's really the god of slaughter or violence.

From what I've read about Ares in mythology, he was a bit of a screw up.