When talking about Mother Nature, a lot of people refer to her as powerful, adaptable, and brutal. Maybe we should start referring to the Warden of the Wood as Mother Nature, because she certainly has some power, can adapt the board to fit her needs, and can be downright brutal in the right warband.

First, consider the Warden's offensive capabilities. Her strongest attack is her one shot with the Pillar of Fire, an area attack that can deal either fire or radiant damage. Not only does that give her a boost against many Undead warbands who are vulnerable to radiant damage, it also gives her a second option against warbands that feature Immune or Resist fire, which can be common.

Her other option for offense is Sheet Lightning. While only range 10, this attack acts like a radius 1 area attack with two advantages. After it hits the target, it automatically hits enemies without hitting your allies who are adjacent to the target, so you can feel free to shoot an enemy without threatening your melee-focused friends and without needing to roll again. The only disadvantages are that you cannot target an empty square like you can with area attacks, and the adjacent creatures take slightly less damage than the target, but the tradeoffs are well worth it.

What makes the Warden really stand out is her ability to alter the map in ways that can hinder and frustrate your opponent and give your allies an advantage. With two uses of Sudden Growth, a minor action, she can change 6 squares into forest terrain. How she uses this power can depend greatly on what type of warband she is up against. Facing a heavy artillery warband? Throw up some forest to block their lines of sight to your start area. Up against a mobile ranged warband? Plant some trees around yourself and make them come to you. Dealing with strong melee creatures? Use the forest to block their charge lanes and force them to fight in the woods, where they can't shift. She can make trees grow anywhere except wall squares, provided the three squares are contiguous.

Synergies

As strong as she is, the Warden is also fragile. She doesn't have a lot of HP, and her defenses are fairly low for her cost, so make sure her allies are positioned to keep her safe. With Copse Glide, all Beast and Plant allies within 5 squares of the Warden can move through Forest terrain with ease. She can use her Champion powers to enable a Beast or Plant ally to move normally in forest squares without provoking opportunity attacks or can add damage to a creature just Bloodied by them. To say she works well with Beasts and Plants would be an understatement, and there are plenty of good ones to choose from.

500-point Play

The Warden's biggest strength in Epic is likely to be her ability to add forest terrain to the map or provide added mobility to Huge Beast or Plant figures while in forests. Unfortunately, she won't survive long if she gets anywhere near harm's way. If she activates first, she can block line of sight to your start area. If you need that LOS blocked, then 10% of your points isn't a bad bargain. If you don't, then someone more durable would be a better choice. As always, it's a gamble either way.