I am curious to hear everyone's thoughts on this quest. How many cities do you typically get soldiers from? How much harder is it to defend Bruma if you only get additional soldiers from a few towns. Do you bring a companion with you? If so, who?

After some research, I found that Skingrad and Leyawin only send one guard while Anvil, Bravil, Cheydinhal (unless you have completed "Corruption and Conscience") and Chorrol will send two. Based on this, I might not bother with Skingrad and Leyawin in future games.

My usual approach is to just close every gate and get assistance from every town and Kvatch. This gets kind of exhausting after closing four or five gates, but I like seeing our army as large as possible during the battle at the Great Gate.