Play report:
The group I GM'ed for had 6 PCs, playing: Riftwardens, Elven Uprooters, Mammoth Riders,the Taldan army, the Mendevian Cavalry and the Mendevian Priests. The first engagement went well; the Riftwardens and Uprooters teamed up to destroy cultists on the south side, the Taldans charged the Middle, and the Mammoth Riders and the Cavalry took the north. Only problem was the Warpriests were too slow and did very little. Once the players took out each of the cultist armies, they all settled in for a day to recover with the plan of attacking the tieflings at dawn from all sides...except the Mendevian Cavalry. The foolish crusaders charged in immediately (the player had been just a tiny bit too slow throughout the first engagement and hadn't had a fight yet) and met a dangerous and entrenched foe. The high defense of the tieflings between their cautious strategy and the fortifications of the town made the tieflings too hard a nut to crack for the Mendevians, and the cavalry was forced to withdraw (it didn't help that my dice were hot most of the evening, and his dice weren't). The next day, the other 5 armies descended on the tieflings and, since they were all fighting recklessly, were able to take down the unhurt tieflings in a single round.
The second engagement was significantly more difficult. The Cavalry and the Mammoth Riders charged recklessly forward at a pair of dretch armies that had joined up (despite a hint that they would be leaving themselves in a dangerous position), then were ambushed by a pair of Schir armies. Meanwhile, the highly effective Riftwarden/Uprooter combo started working its way south around the chasm, and the Taldans headed north-northwest after some of the Schir armies. The Mendevian Warpriests decided to stay on defense; their low movement made them terrible attackers but they knew they'd be hell (heaven?) on wheels defending Silvershore.
During the first combat phase of the engagement, the Mammoth riders and the Cavalry fought two dretch armies and two Schir armies. This was the first time the PCs had been outnumbered, and they were both clearly worried. Unfortunately, they made their worst tactical mistake here; thinking that the Dretches would die easily, they focused on them instead of the far easier Schirs. My dice were hot, and within three rounds of splitting up the dretch and schir attacks evenly between the armies the cavalry were in dire straights and only one of the armies (a schir army) had fallen. A few rounds later, I defeated the cavalry leaving the Mammoths fighting two dretch armies and a schir army. The Mammoths were barely able to rally and defeat the three remaining foes.
During the next few days, the Taldans came to the Mammoths' rescue and gave the Mammoths desperately needed time to recover while taking a bit of a beating from the other armies in the area, especially the Stitched Abominations. Meanwhile, the previously unstoppable Riftwarden/Uprooters combo found themselves outmaneuvered by the Howlers, and left with two options: pursue a fleeing Schir army around the chasm, or go backwards to take on the Howlers. They decided to leave the howlers to the Warpriests and charge after the schir demons. The howlers attacked Silvershore and were slain by the Warpriests without much effort.
Then the Rift Drakes appeared and killed the cultists, and seeing another easy meal went after the Uprooters and Riftwardens. The riftwardens died quickly (though not without inflicting casualties on the Drakes) and the Uprooters were routed, then defeated on the following day. The combination of Breath Weapon and Bleed on those guys was REALLY effective.
At this point the Army of the Open Road was truly worried; having lost half their forces they considered pulling back to Silvershore. But two paladins (I let the player in charge of the Mendevian Cavalry meet up with the Mammoth riders) and the lead singer of Dyre Wulf were not about to back down, and the Mammoths and the Taldans charged the Rift Drakes. While Dyre Wulf played their hit single "Lets kick the Worldwound in the [expletive]" the three armies clashed, and slew the drakes in a single round of combat.
The rest of the scenario was fairly by the book, though the players loved the cool carved demon head, and everyone liked the troop fight. The magus at the end was a little irritating since they gave him all the time he needed to prep, but that is honestly to be expected.
