I just finished this adventure.
I only attacked camps 1/6/4, and got 4450 exp and a tonne of great loot....basically i saved myself 250 recruits in return for 2360 less exp. Maybe if i do this quest again i might give up the extra 250 recruits for 2360 more exp...not really sure....either way, was well worth the losses in return for the exp and loot.
Thanks to the guys who posted all of this info, it was a big help.

