Oh-Oh... Nival have released a statement addressing all HOMMV fans on their Official Website regarding a stolen Alpha version of HOMMV. Apparently it's doing the rounds, available on CD, in several Russian cities.
It's been dubbed by the insalubrious salesmen as an "Alpha" or "Demo" version of the game and, according to Nival, doesn't even come close to what will be the release version and is practically unplayable due to its instability.

Needless to say, Nival have urged HOMMV fans not to buy this stolen property from the thieves and I know that all the CH staff cannot condone anyone playing, let alone buying, such an illegal copy. I'm sure CH regulars and true HOMM fans wouldn't even consider it anyway.

By the way - the magic of online translation is still fairly limited - if anyone can provide a more accurate translation (especially regarding how the "Alpha" was stolen) than the garbled english I've had glean this information from, please leave it in a comment.