Well, I spent some time with this one last night, and it's not too bad,
except for one major glitch, described below.  For those who haven't
heard, Avalon Hill has FINALLY released at least a demo of this major
piece of vaporware on Compuserve (GO GAMCPUB).  Could be available at
other sites too by now.  Anyway, it lets you play the Allies from Fall
'39 through end of 1940 if you can get that far.  Here's my experience:

Fall '39: with standard Polish setup, the computer German made the right
deployments and took Warsaw on a 2-1 exploit with some exchange losses.
Looks good so far.  I take the opportunity to play a passive Allied game
early and build as much as I can, leaving at start forces where they
are in the Med and not adding anything to see what will happen.  Italy
builds normally and remains neutral.  USSR takes East Europe as normal.

Winter '39: The program plays a passive German redeploy/build turn and
leaves the Low Countries alone, conducting an ineffective attrition in
the West but building well, adding as much armor/air as it can afford.
Italy stays neutral and builds up the rest of its ground forces,
deploying them to the French border and guarding beaches/Rome in decent
fashion.  Allied troops are available for invasion in Gib and Port Said,
also in Tunisia and Lebanon on French fleets; the Italian computer is
playing decently in defense.  I finish air/ground builds for Allies and
start building the rest of the Brit fleets.  I start getting bored with
USSR and redeploy stuff to Turk border and air to Sevastopol to have some
fun (remember that it only goes to end of 1940 ;-))

Spring '40: Finally the Axis starts getting its act in gear - Italy
declares war and takes one of the mtn hexes along French border, lends
air/BRP's to Germany (not much), and redeploys the bulk of its air/ground
forces to French border.  Unfortunately for the program it has stripped
the beaches a little thin (down to 1-factor replacements or single 2-3's)
and there is not threat to the UK, so it's time to make a field trip for
some pasta this turn.  Germany takes all the Low's plus Denmark and 1 hex
of the Maginot but exploiters are pushed back by French attrition.
Britain sends a couple of 4-5's plus air and inf to France since the
Germans are no threat (still) to the UK.  Germany continues to build well
but sometimes moves armor around aimlessly although close to the front.
East front is garrisoned properly tho.  USSR invades Turkey to see
what'll happen and blows aside a 2-5 guarding the mtn approaches to
Ankara.  Should fall next turn if the program doesn't go weird on me.
Brits redeploy a 3-4 to Med and now have a decent invasion force looming
against Italy, which the program ignores.

Summer '40: Axis makes a weak assault against France - Sedan is taken and
exploiters go one more hex (only) but are pushed back with attrition.  At
this rate the program will not get into Paris by Winter.  Italy
surprisingly makes no more than token efforts against Southern France
even tho it still owns the northern mtn border hex.  Germany could have
moved armor there to help out but didn't and a lot of German force never
comes into play this turn.  Allied air losses are minor.  The program is
now playing poorly but is still attacking.  USSR finishes off Turkey
(which was defended as well as can be hoped - I had to exploit against
Ankara with a 20-12 1-1 assault).  Program looks to play better on
defense so far but is weak on the attack.  Britian invades at Salerno
with a 3-4 and a 2-5 and 5 fleets against a 2-3, the Italian fleet
declines to intercept for some unknown reason.  Assault succeeds with
loss of the 3-4, I sit on the beach with the 2-5 fully expecting to get
knocked off.

Fall '40: Flip-flop!  Initiative passes to the Allies since I haven't
spent jack with the minimal losses and heavy Axis builds.  This would
normally be a bad flip for the Allies but the program is sucking wind so
I take advantage and displace the Italian fleets with the 2-5, taking all
the south Italian ports and redploying a couple of 3-4's into S. Italy.
The program can't kick me out now unless he moves all of his air away
from France.  Dumb.  USSR redeploys out of Turkey but who cares.  France
takes the mtn hex back from the Eyties on attrition and is back to prewar
borders except for the easternmost Maginot hex.  Even with an Axis flip
back I can't see the program doing much.

Unfortunately this is the end of the game for me.  The program crashes
after asking me if I want to save the game and will not go farther
without crashing no matter how may times I replay the Allied Fall '40
turn.  Not a good sign but it IS a demo.

So, what can I say?  For experienced 3R players it might be fun to kick
around some Allied butt since the program is not bad on defense, but
forget playing the Allies unless you try '42 or later, the program is not
a challenge on offense as might be expected.  Still, it played a fairly
decent game otherwise with builds, reploys, etc. but is just not strong
enough.  Might be worth a shot when it is released but I'll wait and see
how stable it is and how it plays from others' reports before buying.
Enjoy!

Dave in ATL       dave@delta-air.com