There is a free multiplayer Web game out there, Lords of War and Money, that borrows heavily on Heroes of Might and Magic V (as a matter of fact, it used to be called Heroes of War and Money). It's currently celebrating its first year of existence, so after such a long time I guess that Ubisoft doesn't mind the little... homage. HodgePodge provided a nice description of the game in the forums:

"The battles are real-time with people from all over the world & the monsters are directly from Heroes V. All the factions are there: Knight, Wizard, Elf, Demon, Necromancer & Barbarian. You can change your Faction every 24 hours so you're not stuck if you don't like what you've picked.

You can build up your own Castle & recruit your army from it. If you get killed in battle, your army is restored in 15 minutes. You can start learning your Skills (Talents) at Level 5 and many Artifacts are available. You can start casting Spells at Level 5 when you build a Mage Guild in your Castle.

To earn money, you can work in a variety of factories (each shift is one hour). You can play Arcomage in the Tavern with other real-life players from all over the world & can place a stake when you reach I think Level 1 in the Gamblers' Guild."

Have you played this game? What do you think of it?