France has had an enviable LAN scene for as long as I can remember; an annual circuit of LANs no less! With seasons averaging four events and then culminating in a final event – you guessed it – at LAN. LANs up the wazoo. Bastards! Talk about your embarrassment of riches. In recent years that Gallic wealth of Team Fortress 2 action has proven too enticing for foreign invaders, hungry for nerd blood and hairy women.

Hosted at the impressive Futuroscope just outside Poitiers, nestled away in central France, Gamers Assembly represents the jewel in the crown of this nation of gamers. In 2012 a marauding Epsilon eSports pried it out of Punchline's cold dead hands, but in 2013 it was the French who prevailed, besting the European all-star mix, Viva La Vida.

This year nine teams have entered the fray, fewer than expected I am told, but never the less cash money is on the line and it's offline; I'm sold! The language barrier has historically impeded the amount of coverage lavished upon these events outside of France, but then again they are blessed with Pognon. Scarce details again this year, but read on and I'll tell you what I know.

Schedule

Saturday 19th April from 13:00 - Midnight CEST

Sunday 20th April from 11:00 - 16:00 CEST

I haven't manage to uncover any specifics beyond this. Hell, I don't even know the tournament structure. Just show up then and all will become apparent.

Streams

Those crazy frogs really do like to do things their own way. I say Twitch, they say Daily Motion. As it stands, you have two stream options: go native and follow the event in French with Pognon on Millenium TV3 or with Twiggy in English with a sexy French accent on MetatroneTV who may or may not be joined by Admirable and others.

If all goes according to plan their should be Source TV relays available for one and all, allowing you to commentate the games yourself in any silly accent you choose. Casta like a Rasta? Ja mon! Check back here for details.

Update 13:10CEST

Twiggy's machine at LAN is struggling with the streaming duties, so right now we are trying to put together some TFTV coverage, but currently the STVs are not exposed to the outside world. The team meeting before the tournament has just got underway. More details when we get them...

Update 13:45CEST

TFTV will be streaming the event in English with Twiggy, Admirable and Jon. I think this will be restreamed on MetatroneTV too. Still not 100% sure on when we will have a game to cast, but the admins are working to resolve technical issues stopping us from accessing STV. In the mean time check out this awesome Toornament.com widget! We also found the Team Fortress 2 tournament page. Magical.

Update 14:30CEST

Still waiting on admins to grant us access to STV. Results are starting to trickle in from the first round of the Round Robin. 5-0's ahoy! Enjoy Jon's frag movie and track selection on stream whilst we wait. Join the Twitch chat... if you dare.

Update 15:35CEST

We have access to STVs now, should be going live in the next 5-10 minutes!

Contenders

Awsomniacs

*DiabalXen*	*Exon*	*Captainhax*	*T-Mac*	*Flippy*	*Tek*

Spiritual successors to the dominate Punchline team of old and bronze medallists in the recent ETF2L Season 17, this Awsomniac roster's only question mark hovers over the absence of Bulle and his substitute from Division 2, DiabalXen. Though when you consider the competition, this might actually make things interesting.

Viva La Vida

*skeej*	*Thy*	*Salt*	*KillAri*	*gf18*	*droso*

To mix team with a genuine shot at first place, take three parts Fenneks eSports, one part Mais La Moule, dust off a German relic and finish with Salt. With skeej captaining this team you can expect kritz on the first mid of every map. Thy and Salt can be relied on to pump out consistent damage, but look to gf18 and droso to do the heavy lifting on the road to Sunday's Grand Final.

K-RNAGE ESPORT

*Izzy*	*Hidan*	*DeGuN*	*GwAda*	*NiCO*	*SextiS*

A lot of familiar names in this roster. Some I can't quite place. Of course NiCO, is the guy who got banned for pressing A and D too quickly. K-RNAGE claimed gold in Division 3B this season and this is the roster that did it bar GwAda who is standing in for missing roamer, baud. How far their existing teamwork and chemistry will take them against these Premiership-standard opponents (and droso) remains to be seen.

Bonne chance!

Image Credit: ryuuji.deviantart.com