In the first campaign of three new ones in this expansion pack for Heroes of Might and Magic V, you control Freyda as she struggles with a civil war in the Grphyon Empire. After that you move to the icy mountains in the north, which the dwarfs call their home. They are the new playable race in Hammers of Fate and bring along a new kind of city called Fortress. Since dwarfs do not know anything about mana and all that fancy stuff all the other races use to cast spells, there is also a new kind of magic called Rune Magic. It uses resources instead of mana to cast powerful spells upon enemies. Dwarfs also have their own set of units like the vicious bear riders and rune priests. The expansion adds new artifacts, new neutral monsters like mummies and manticores, new map objects and several new skirmish and multiplayer maps. It also reintroduces the Caravan feature, known from Heroes of Might and Magic IV, which allows you to transport units over the map without a hero in the group. In multiplayer matches the simultaneous turn-based mode makes a return. It allows all players on a map to move their units without waiting for the other players during a turn.

The expansion pack featured numerous improvements over the base game. The most notable content included was the addition of the new Fortress faction, comprised of Dwarves, with exclusive access to runic magic (which requires resources instead of mana for casting). Three new campaigns, continuing the original game's storyline, were added, along with a selection of standalone scenarios. Fourteen new artifacts, three new creatures and additional campaign heroes were included, as well as the long-anticipated map and campaign editor which was not present in the base game (though was added in a downloadable patch). Caravans (originally seen in Heroes of Might and Magic IV), simultaneous turns in the multiplayer mode and a random map generator were also supplied. Finally, the Renegades - a sub-faction composed of seven non-recruitable creature types - were added, featuring prominently in the storyline.