HoMM 5 - Tribes of the East Preview @ GameSpy

HoMMV: Tribes of East has been previewed at GameSpy, with some hands-on impressions:

To get a feel for the expansion, we were given the opportunity to play the opening level of the new campaign, which follows Qurac's first forays into the human lands. During the mission (which is purely hero-based, there is no fortress), he'll travel about the land rescuing representatives of the four other races from the human that will eventually make up the new Orcish faction of "Bastion." The map also introduced two of the game's new strategic wrinkles that players will have to deal with. One is the Orc ability to pillage human farmsteads for money; the other is a new sacrificial altar that allows players to sacrifice low-level troops for leadership experience points. The second, at least, will certainly make for some interesting new strategic wrinkles as players weigh the pros and cons of expending resources to raise armies of useless creatures as sacrificial victims.