
There’s so much the media hasn’t told you.Souplantation and Sweet Tomatoes are here to get you into the spirit of fall with our rotating menu full of the warm flavors of the season. Our soups, salads, pastas, and desserts are sure to highlight the freshest produce and the warming spices we all love about this time of year.
Come into your local Souplantation or Sweet Tomatoes to try our newest salad bar and buffet items, exclusive to the month of November.Well, it wasn't Harry Potter, but...
Yes, I walked a whole mile to the bus stop, waited 24 minutes, and then had the ride of my life.( This should indicate how often I get out) got to the dr.s 7 minutes late, but they took me right in. everything was pretty good till they took my blood pressure 174/100.  Well me and old dr. talked it over and we're going to see how the new medicine works out and then maybe change it come wednesday. Now thats a great way to really get your blood pressure up.
Otherwise, I had a pretty good day. I bough " The Mummy Returns". Man, this director is ok. It's not the best sequel I've see, but it certainly wasn't the worse. Now it's time to do "THE BIG WEB PAGE THING". Gosh, I'm sure putting that off.
ok, go already.​Where it all begins!
​A quick snapshot of the forces, before we add more stuff for the campaign.
Well the title says it all, doesn't it? WIP on a Tamiya 1/48 Kübelwagen.
​Expanding the German forces some more, a WIP Opel Blitz (Italeri 1/48).
More work on terrain for the campaign. This project includes making a brick wall out of foamboard.
8. German Riflemen and Pioneers.
​More infantry for the German side, with a list of the paints Jonas uses for his platoons.
9. Building Stalino: Chimneys for the houses!
​Shirty continues work on the Stalino apartments.
​Jonas finishes his water tower.
More home-made terrain.
Some ideas about how to keep track of the well-being of your platoons in a Chain of Command campaign.
​A new tank rolls into the German vehicle pool.
​In Chain of Command you're not placing artillery bigger than small mortars on the tabletop, but Jonas can't resist building and painting a 1/48 scale Italeri 8.8cm Flak gun, because it looks great.
​The tiny car is finally finished.
​Not content with the company of German infantrymen, Jonas decides to make a Gebirgsjäger platoon for the campaign.
​Making Gebirgsjäger miniatures out of Perry's DAK plastics.
​The Soviets also expand their force, with some conversions of their own.
20. Test of new scenario, the "Hasty attack"
​An alternative scenario for Chain of Command.
​German forces are growing in anticipation of the campaign.
​How we decided to field a Gebirgsjäger platoon for 1941.
​Another armoured car added to the forces.
​Added a truck as well.
​Shirty gives some pointers in how he build balsa houses.
27. Campaign Kick-off! But how does it work?
​Some meat and potatoes about how the campaign will work.
​Jonas finishes a big gun.
​The Gebirgsjäger platoon gets some much needed members.
​Jonas turns a cheap diecast 1/48 toy into a deadly addition to his forces.
33. Achtung Minen!
​Reports of home-made minefields being prepared for the defence of the city.
This game saw the Soviets attack by throwing a quite fresh platoon against a rather battered German one. Both platoons started the game with -1 on the Morale roll, due to the soldiers sharing a low opinion of their commanders. This was an awesome game that was not decided until the last phase of around 50 played! We had the campaign's first "heavy" armor duel between a T-34 and a StuG III. The T-34 got the better of it with the use of a CoC die and a double phase.
The campaign ruleset for Chain of Command, At the Sharp End, tracks how appreciated (or reviled!) the platoon's officers are by the men. The men's opinion is affected by both securing victories and maintaining low casualty rates. Previous games had left both of these platoons with -1 on the roll to decide starting Morale.
At each end of the road, a tense tank duel: Soviet T-34 vs. German StuG III. It was fun to see some armor manoeuvring and not just a shoot out from table edge to table edge. I think the Soviet player was anxious to ensure that his tank did not back out, like the BT-5 had done for him in the Turn 4 fight on the eastern column.
Sorry about the minefields, but ours were not finished yet during this game, so we went with paper. Anyhow, here you can see the Soviet attack, hampered by the minefields which have cut off the easy path for moving up a JOP within 12" from the German table edge. Soviets attack from the left of the picture and have managed to get a JOP quite far across the table (seen in the foreground in front of the T-34).
The closest Soviet squad can't get any further as there are no windows or doors on their side of the house in front of them, and they can't get around the far side of the house due to the minefield. The German StuG has deployed and the infantry decides to wait for their armored support.
The infantry battle is cautious on both sides. The T-34 rolls forward to take on the fight with the StuG that has complicated the Soviet advance.
​With luck and daring the T-34 immobilise the StuG with one shot and makes their crew bail out with a second. The infantry squad tries to run for the German JOP in the house, but fails to get close enough to affect it. The Germans deploy a squad from the very JOP the Soviets tried to capture, and blast away with two MG 34s.
The Soviets try to save themselves by running forward and get out of the arc of fire from the front of the building. They are very close to get pinned here! The hunters are now the hunted.
​The T-34 tries to save the remnants of the squad as more Germans have run to save the JOP at the corner of the house. Here you can se the difference between a 1:56 (T-34) and 1:48 (StuG III) vehicle. In my opinion the 1:48 is much better in scale with 28mm miniatures, I think it is due to the bulkiness of the miniatures.
The T-34 tried to smash the house (and the Germans in there), but got stuck in the process! The Germans evacuate towards the enemy, but at this point both sides has so low morale that neither is able to actually win.
This was a truly nerve-wrecking game which I appreciated despite only being a on-looker. It was also fun as the German player, who was beaten by the same Soviet player the game before, managed to both stop the Soviets and cause some heavy casualties in return. It is always great when a new player gets to grips with the rules and can give a more experienced one a bloody nose for the first time! Good for the campaign.
Payouts from with-profits policies are still falling, but some life offices are showing signs of turning around as the rate of decline has slowed.
While most offices have announced falls of about 20 per cent this year, Prudential recently announced that payouts from maturing 25-year endowments which cost £50 per month had fallen to £56,385 this year compared with £62,647 last year - a fall of 10 per cent. Therefore, Prudential endowments have grown at a rate of 9.1 per cent per year, including tax relief, which is a real return of 5.4 per cent per year after average inflation of 3.7 per cent is stripped out.
Similarly, Liverpool Victoria endowments are paying out £83,945 this year compared with £93,687 in 2003, again a drop of 10 per cent. That means endowments have grown at 11.9 per cent per year, or 8.2 per cent after inflation is stripped out.
Ian Blanchard, group actuary at Liverpool Victoria, said: "An 11.9 per cent annual rate of return before inflation on a 25-year policy is an excellent result and confirms that our with-profits products are a highly competitive choice."
Mr Blanchard added that, as a mutual, Liverpool Victoria was not obliged to share profits with shareholders.
David Belsham, appointed actuary at Prudential, said: "In general, our returns still comfortably exceed those achieved on deposit-based products and on alternative exposed investments such as unit trusts."
However, Abbey announced this week that endowment payouts had fallen from £61,659 last year to £49,702 this year - a decline of 20 per cent. It joins Standard Life, Scottish Life and Axa Equity & Law which have all cut payouts by at least