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History Channel: Great Battles of Rome for PC
$29.99
For those ancient wargamers who have played Slitherine's Legion & Spartan Legion Gold, SPARTAN, you will find the battle mode of THC's GBR game very familiar. The game plays very differently from its two predecessors, as there is no strategic play. You play a series of battles in chronologial sequence, starting as either a Roman or a Celtic leader. The time line follows the historical sequence of events and regardless of your victory or defeat, you don't change the fixed sequence. The Roman time line ends with the Civil Wars circa 40 BC. The Celtic time line ends with combat with Caesar's expedition to Britain. You can't advance to the next battle unless you win the scenario you are in. After each battle, you have the opportunity to purchase new units and/or upgrade your existing ones. Upgrades can be equipment for better leathality, protection, mobility, level of training, or formation drill. There are different types of units from militia to Praetorian heavy infantry, light/heavy cavalry, skirmishers/archers, with tribal/national characteristics. There is a leader unit, which over time and with upgrades, can command more units, extend range of command influence, and give more commands, and therefore very important. There are limited command options once a battle begins, which is a change from the earlier games, where you set your formation commands at the start, then just watched the action. Leaders can redirect units and there are more tactical options for the formations to start a battle. The battle graphics are improved from the earlier mentioned games and you can zoom into a unit-on-unit engagement. There is a historical narrative between the each battle that gives you the context of each scenario, which is a nice teaching tool. The graphics are not state-of-the art, but also don't make heavy demands on your computer either. You don't need much more than a basic laptop to play the game, a plus in my book. For the $10 I paid, I found the game a great value - I only rate it 4-stars because, as far as I can tell, once you have played through the Roman and Celtic time lines, that's it. You can restart at the beginning, but you will go through the same sequence of battles.

Juiceman JM503 Juiceman Pro 3-Speed Juice Extractor
$179.99
First, a compliment to Amazon for prompt shipping and good communications. The Juiceman Pro is exactly what it claims and the wife and I are very pleased with this product.
A good way toward a healthier life style.

J&M JMCB-2003-SL CB/Stereo/Intercom/Audio Solo System (Driver Only)
$299.99
J&M JMCB-2003-SL CB/Stereo/Intercom/Audio Solo System (Driver Only)

Line 6 JM4 Looper combines jam tracks, looping and Line 6 tone
$459.99
I've owned the Line 6 JM4 Looper for about a year and use it exclusively for learning and practicing. I don't even bother with the other four or five guitar gadgets I used for the same purpose. I use the JM4 Looper in tandem with a software program I bought and downloaded called Amazing Slow Downer that makes the combination of the two greater than the individual parts. For me, the combination of the ASD and the JM4 Looper is a match made in Heaven. I won't go into much detail about the ASD because this review is for the JM4 Looper.

The product description and the other reviews pretty much cover the need to know part about the JM4 Looper. So there's no reason to rehash the talking points on this great product. It's well worth the cost, which I don't consider all that pricey in the first place.

And check out the ASD by doing an online search for Amazing Slow Downer. You can load songs into its playlist with a good amount of editing capabilities for changing the speed without losing the pitch(Key). Or you can change the pitch for different fingering and chord positions. And you can sectionalize a part and have it play in a loop for as long as you want in the different speed and pitch settings. Plus you can save the changes you made for further study or practice to the playlist. To make it all work together, you just need a 3 or 6 ft cord with a mini-plug at each end. One end of the cord goes to the headphone out jack of your PC(Or Mac) and the other end goes to the input jack of the Line 6 JM4 Looper. You can use the PC volume control as a preamp and the JM4 volume as the master volume. Then you use the headphone jack in the JM4 Looper for your headphones, plug your guitar into the JM4, dial in a guitar sound that's close to the sound coming from the ASD output and make some real-time progress!

Got iPhone or iPod? There's an ASD program for them too.