I had originally followed the Civil War questline on the Stormcloak side until I reached the Battle for Fort Sungard. When I got the mission, I went to the waypoint but there were no soldiers there to meet. So I went to the fort, and there were no enemies there to defeat either. So I reloaded a save and tried again, and had the same problem. I went to an even earlier save, completed the other quests I'd done until I got back to Sungard and still no luck.

So I figured instead I'd go back and switch sides and join the Imperials instead. I redid all the quests on the Imperial side, eventually reaching the Battle for Fort Dunstad. I met the troops as expected, went up to the fort and killed the first wave of Stormcloaks bringing the total down to 75% completed. Suddenly there were no Stormcloaks anywhere. They weren't spawning. I looked all through the interior areas, thinking they might be inside instead but no luck. I've watched videos of people completing the mission so I know they should have been outside to kill but not in my game. Multiple reloads, multiple attempts, multiple days waiting. No luck.

This is the third Bethesda game that I've been through, and though I've enjoyed them, I've been plagued with bugs over and over again. This game is simply in an unacceptable state, and should not have been released.

This has been bugging since before the latest patch,i've had 2 games ruined by this civil war bug,well before 1.3 came.

I've also came into this same issue. The Battle for Fort Sungard quest starts, and as I go to meet the troops they are not there, then quest moves on to the second step of killing 100% of the guards. When I get to the Fort, there are also no guards to be found.

same here. civil war questline broken.

i get the order to meet the imps near dunstad. i get no marker and they dont spawn.
if i approach fort dunstad the target to meet them fails, i get the "kill 100%" target, but there arent any stormcloaks in dunstad. they dissappeared. but i was there before (lurking), there are stormcloaks in dunstad. (no i didnt fight/kill any of them before)

i reloaded for 30 times. tried all thinkable variations to match the triggers.

twice i was able to fight the stormcloaks but the counter stayed at 100% and one time at 62%. in the first of these two i failed to meet the imps, they didnt spawn. in the 2nd they spawned when i approached dunstad AND the game told me i ACCOMPLISHED to meet the imps even i didnt.
both variations arent reproducible for me. i mean i cant force them to be triggered.

so... i gave up but possibly there is workaround to match the needed triggers...

Maaan! You guys too! Damn Bethesda!! WTH!? I hate not being able to finish quests! I have this same problem....

Even after trying to manipulate the outcome through the Season Unending quest, I had the exact same issue with the next fort I had to assault, Fort Snowhawk.

Me too. I was able to get past Fort Dunstad by finishing Season Unending, but now I'm stuck at Fort Amol. I've tried reloading saves and approaching the quest in every way I can think of, but it's just plain broken.

i had the same problem:
http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1311056-the-battle-for-fort-hraggstad-quest-liberation-of-skyrim/page__p__19716909#entry19716909

just started a new a new game just to finish this! And it worked!

I'm having the same problem now, well, sort of... In my case it said to meet the troops at Fort Dunstad so I fast traveled there and it says I didn't make it in time and I failed that objective but it still says to kill the troops in the fort to complete the quest anyway except for one problem... The fort is completely F****** DESERTED... The only living things there when I get there are two horses and myself... What gives... I'm not starting a new bloody character just to do this stupid questline this is freaking BS!!! I just want to end the Civil War with some chance of Skyrim being able to help when the Aldmeri Dominion comes to fight again... I don't particularly like either side but the Imperials I see as the lesser of two evils... So anyone know of a way to get around the fact that the fort is completely empty or am I just screwed by Bethesda's negligence?!?!?! My RP requires my character to finish this questline before she completes the MQ thus keeping me stuck at The Fallen and unable to continue until this quest is fixed...

The first thing that happened to you is EXACTLY what happened to me... No imperials no stormcloaks but somehow I failed to meet them and there has never been a quest marker for it... If I continue and do Season Unending then I can't finish this line at all until I finish the MQ and my RP doesn't allow for that... My character isn't the type to call for a truce when there's a much better option of fixing this once and for all by finishing the questline...

the only problem i've had with these quest in particular is when they respawn, the game lagged like hell for a couple of seconds then i'd be almost dead lol. the game says 0% but there's like 5 or so guys left.

i was trying the workaround another player posted for
the battle of fort grunwall:

http://www.gamesas.com/topic/1321053-the-battle-for-fort-greenwall/page__pid__19882064#entry19882064

i wait for rikke to completly finish the covo, i wait for the infos to pop up.
i dont activate the mission to "meet the imps near dunstad".
i fast travel to the fort in the east of dunstad, like this i can force the game so the stormcloaks spawn.
if i then wait for a minute where the streets cross in the south of
dunstad, i get the target to attack dunstad.
the imps doesnt spawn.
"meet the imps" isnt failing. in some way it doesnt say anything to this, i shall kill the "100%".
if i approach dunstad, there are stormcloaks outside. but the counter "100%left" doesnt change if i kill some or all of them. waiting, entering a building/fast travelling away and back doesnt help. the counter stays at 100%.
i will try again

Well, at least you're actually encountering a quest at all! For the lot of us, when we approach from the NW of Fort Greenwall, right when we arrive at the location where the Imperials SHOULD be waiting to meet up with us, a lovely "FAIL" marquee flashes across the screen. Then, if we decide to keep truckin' towards the Fort, we're able to do so unabated by any Stormcloak resistance. And other than that damned horse standing next to the smithing area, the Fort is vacant! I'm not so sure Bethesda can chalk this one up to a hardware/RAM/VRAM issue.

Yeah this isn't a system issue this is solely a Bethesda F*** up... They'd better get this crap fixed because now my character is basically stuck because of her RP... Also I'm screwed out of a platinum trophy should I want it (which I do) without starting more characters over and over (which ain't going to happen just to finish one bloody questline)...

I started the Imperial quest line yesterday and i'm stuck at this same spot : noone can be found in or around Fort Dunstrad

I ran around for a while looking for the Stormcloacks and found nothing. Hope, they'll fix this.

Well then, welcome to the ever growing club of people who can't finish the Civil War because the enemy decided to take a vacation and leave Skyrim altogether...

This entire quest is super bugged from start to finish, it took a careful save and retry about 20-30 times on almost every part of the quest the two forts in particular. I sided with the Legion, in my experience, starting the conversations to que up the quest during the day 10am to 7pm, taking your sweet time and listening to every bit of the conversations even if you have heard them a million times, then do not even move until the quest tickers come across the screen, do not mark the quest in your quest log and finally do not fast travel to the actual location, fast travel to a nearby one. I had my quest bug out in about every way possible but after about 20-30 trys it finally just kinda worked with the combo that ShinXur linked.

Good luck.

I also started the Imperial quest line, No Imperial soldiers and no Stormcloak soldiers in Fort Dunstad. Good thing I have two save files before doing this quest,