Overview

Hammers of Fate, the first expansion pack to Heroes of Might and Magic V, was released Nov. 7th 2006. Just like the base game, it was developed by Nival Interactive. The expansion features a new race, the Dwarves, with its own runic magic - which is special in the way that it costs resources to cast rather than mana. HoF also included a random map generator, simultaneous turns for multiplayer, caravans and new maps, artefacts and neutral units. You are able to play a new campaign of 15 missions with new heroes, cutscenes and a continuation of the Heroes of Might and Magic V storyline. Note: The following information comes from posts by Jolly Joker at the Round Table and Fabrice Cambounet on the official forum.

Fortress Units

The new town town is called the Fortress, and its hero is the Runemage, who rides a mammoth.

Level	Base Unit	Upgrade
1	Defender (Enraged Armored, Large Shield)	Stout Defender (Shield Wall)
2	Axe Fighter (Wound)	Axe Thrower (Shooter, No Melee Penalty)
3	Bear Rider (Large, Enraged)	Blackbear Rider (Armored, Paw Strike)
4	Brawler (Immunity to Mind Control)	Berserker (Berserker Rage)
5	Fire Mage (Shooter, Caster, Magic-proof, Mark of Fire)	Flame Mage (Crossfire)
6	Thane (Large, Teleport, Stormstrike, Immunity to Lightning)	Stormlord (Stormbolt)
7	Lava Dragon (Fire Breath, Fire Shield, Elemental, Immunity to Fire)	Magma Dragon (Magma Shield instead of Fire Shield)

Renegade Units

According to Jolly Joker, Red Haven units are alternative Haven upgrades. They are rebellious units who chose to fight the demon army by themselves.

1: Brute (Tax Payer; Shield Bash)

2: Crossbowman (Shoots; Rapid Fire)

3: Vindicator (Cleave)

4: Battle Griffin (Large, Flyer, Unlimited Retal, Battle Frenzy)

5: Zealot (Shoots, No Melee Penalty, Caster)

6: Champion (Large, Champion Charge)

7: Fallen Angel (Large; Flyer, Life Drain)

Neutral Units

The four new neutral units come with old and new abilities.

Wolf (Pack Hunter, Howl)

Snow Ape (Unlim. Retal; Agility)

Mummy (Undead, Hexing Attack, Caster)

Manticore (Large, Flyer, Poisonous Attack)

Creature Abilities

Here is an explanation of the new creature abilities, in alphabetical order.

Agility: This creature gains a +30% Defense bonus for the next turn per every tile it walks. Armored: This creature is resistant to all spells and effects that decrease Defense.

Battle Frenzy: Every next retaliation strike performed by this creature inflicts damage 1.5 times as great as the previous one.

Berserker Rage: When this ability is used, this creature drops its Defense to zero for the time being, and has the same amount of Offense increase, then attacks the nearest target automatically without suffering the retaliation strike (activated ability).

Champion Charge: If this creature has walked more than 2 tiles when attacking, it also inflicts half damage on the stack standing in the line of attack immediately behind the primary target.

Cleave: If this creature’s attack kills at least one creature in the target stack, it performs an additional strike.

Crossfire: The creature has the attack area shaped as a cross.

Hexing Attack: After a successful attack, the target creature also suffers the effect of one of the following damnations: Curse, Slow, Weakness, or Disrupting Ray. All the effects are equal to those of Expert-level spells. (Note that we have still the old spell names here: it must be: Weakness, Slow, Suffering and Vulnerability)

Howl: Once per battle, this creature can summon a friendly stack of equal power.

Mark of Fire: When attacking, this creature has a chance to damn the target, which will result in all the Fire damage suffered by it within a certain period of time being doubled.

Pack Hunter: When this creature attacks a target, all the other stacks of the creatures of the same type able to do so attack it, too.

Paw Strike: This creature has a chance to push the target one tile aside and zero all the Initiative the target has accumulated.

Shield Wall: Damage suffered by this creature from enemy attack is 10% less per every tile the attacker walked to hit.

Stormbolts: Once per battle, this creature can attack any chosen target with Storm Strike (activated ability). Magma Shield: When this creature undergoes a melee attack, the attacker suffers Fire damage in the amount depending on its attack’s force.

Stormstrike: Besides usual damage, this creature strikes the target with lightning (non-magical damage), which then hits another enemy creature if there is one standing next to the target, and further on, until the chain interrupts. The lighting’s force is equal to that of the attack.

Wound: In a successful attack, this creature has additional chance to decrease the target’s Speed (-50%) and Initiative (-30%).

Screenshots

Ubisoft has released five screenshots of the expansion until now.

More screenshots from a third party can be seen at The Genie's Lamp.