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[Game of Thrones/TV/S5] So did Stannis Baratheon make a tactical error in fighting the wildlings first?

It seems right after he got enough gold to buy The Golden Company he went straight to the Wall to deal with Mance Raider and the wildlings. Unfortunately after that battle he got stuck in the snow and lost a good chunk of his men and then he was trapped by the coming winter in an awkward position allowing Ramsay and Sir Twenty of House Goodmen to burn his provisions to the ground. 

Was he better of taking his Golden Company and trying to liberate Winterfell straight away? I mean he isn't a Northerner but I'm sure the North folk would rather Stannis than Bolton.
gpt
His decision was sound. The show did a very poor job portraying Stannis's strategy in the North. 

Let's back up a bit. Following the Battle of Blackwater, Stannis is down to only a couple thousand men (the books list this as ~1500 on Dragonstone along with another 300 or so at Storm's End), no money, and the war basically over for him. The Watch writes to every king asking for help because of the massive army bearing down, along with the army of the dead - they're fucked without help. Davos convinces Stannis to arrive and help, because it's his duty as king. This part is key. The other kings refuse to help because, well, what's the North doing for them other than rebelling? If they don't wanna be a part of the realm then let them solve it themselves. Stannis on the other hand doesn't *want* the throne, but recognizes that it's his *duty* to sit the throne. And a king should serve the realm. He also realizes that serving the realm also helps his otherwise lost cause. In the books he proceeds to the Wall immediately, without stopping in Braavos for money and men. He arrives and saves the Wall. This is ESSENTIAL - saving the realm to win it, rather than winning and then trying to save it. Stannis is not a popular man but he realizes that the only way to win ground back is to get people on his side, and he does this by saving the day. At this point in the books, several Northern houses come to his side and his forces swell to approximately 5000. This gives him the manpower to continue to liberate the North (he defeats the ironborn at Deepwood Motte and wins yet more men). At this point it makes sense to march on Winterfell, since now he has the forces to do so. At Winterfell the Bolton army is holed up with armies from other Northern houses of questioning loyalty, as well as a shitload of Freys (the dicks who helped betray Robb). It's theorized that the Northern forces will betray the Bolton and Frey alliance. Anyway. As of the most recent update on Stannis in the books, he's snowed in a couple days from Winterfell with a Bolton army led by Ramsay coming his way. Ramsay also sends a letter to Jon saying that Stannis is dead, but it might be fake - we don't yet know. The outcome in the books is not yet certain. Point is, Stannis HAD to go to the Wall first in order to march on Winterfell. He lacked the men to assault it otherwise.

Even from the point of view of the show, the decision to go to the Wall first made sense. Stannis arrives with his mercenary army and saves the day, and then contacts every House in the North. Since the show has decided there's about eight Houses in the whole realm as opposed to the literally hundreds that makes for a much more nuanced narrative, we don't really see this except for that one letter that Stannis shows to Jon where the Mormonts say they know only the King in the North, whose name is STARK. But that shitty bit of bad exposition shows that the conclusion that Stannis will win is far from certain - he still needs men to help achieve victory. Granted, he didn't win because he fucked up in other ways, like being written really poorly in the show and having the misfortune of the showrunners really hating his objectively awesome character.

I digress. It was not a tactical error. It made the most sense from a tactical perspective - save the day, be rewarded with greater loyalty.