Quick SLAN info:

• 6:00pm Friday 28th October – 2:00pm Monday 31st October 2011
• The Paddock Suite, Stratford-on-Avon Racecourse, CV37 9SE
• 110 BYOC Spaces – £51.00
• Spectator tickets £10.00 for the first 2 days, £5.00/day after that.
• 8Mb internet connection (limited/traffic shaped connection)
• Server CoLo services available
• Venue Facilities: Showers, Camping space, some Kitchen facilities.
• Alcohol Policy: Bring your Own Beer

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So, what is StratLAN like?

Think of StratLAN as the sort of LAN you would have round your mates house, except more organised, more people, more games, and possibly a touch more beer.

Every StratLAN we have seems to bring its own memorable moments and great gaming. Each event is unique and if you miss it, you’re missing an experience that you won’t necessarily find again.

SLAN is famed for its warm, friendly atmosphere – welcoming to newcomers and veterans alike. If you’ve never been to a Stratlan before it’ll take about 20 minutes for someone to say hi and from that point in you’re part of the group.

StratLAN is about fun and relaxation; when your not gaming you can enjoy the great atmosphere in our dedicated social & chillout areas, or find people playing board games, Magic: The Gathering, poker – or just sitting around and relaxing with a drink and a pizza. It’s a great way to meet new people and to take a break from the gaming.

Obviously Stratlan is still a LAN at heart and an unhealthy amount of time is spent playing games. Because there are much fewer people than at an i-Series, it is easier to organise. It’s not uncommon for someone to shout out the name of a game and to have everyone in the room join the server!

The event is a “bring-your-own-booze” affair and so, if you’re over 18, you can bring all the beer you want to drink at your desk or in the social area!

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New & Improved SLAN eh? How so?

We have been thinking; what would make a SLAN even better? What would we like to see at a LAN that we attended? How can we improve on something already so awesome?

Here’s our ideas:

1. More Big Games. It’s often something that people feed back to us, and we try very hard to ensure that we get as many big games sorted as we can. However, we are going to be putting more time & effort into making sure that we have more big matches of the games you want to play. Games on the radar so far include TF2, Blur, BF3, CSS, COD4 and UT2k4, but we will add whatever games people want to play!

2. King of LAN. A new feature to StratLAN, King of LAN will pit players head to head throughout the event, where challengers can take on the current King of LAN in a 1v1 game of their choice from the game list. If the challenger wins, they become King of LAN! The overall King will be the player that takes the most wins throughout the weekend, and will bag themselves something awesome. More detailed rules & games to follow!

3. Hangover Breakfast. It’s not unheard of that the occasional gamer will have a tipple of the good stuff during an evening of SLAN, and as a result can feel slightly “worse for wear” the following morning. But this cannot affect the days gaming! The answer? Bacon. Multiplay to the rescue! We will be putting on cooked Bacon breakfast baps for weary gamers each morning, to help you start your day of gaming right.

4. Console & Chillout Area. A big, proper, dedicated chill out area for watching films, TV, playing console games or catching up on something sad on TV on Saturday night.

5. Mass Curry Night. There are plenty of awesome take out’s in Stratford, so why miss out on the huge array of cultural cuisine on offer? We will be arranging mass orders from various take out establishments each evening, so that everyone will be able to sort out their meal for the evening.

6. Tuck Shop. The tuck shop is back to SLAN after some time away, but it won’t be anything like the size of the iSeries tuck shop! With some cans & snacks on offer, there will be enough to get you through between meals.

7. Battlefield 3. It comes out on the first night of the October SLAN, and so there will be many of the games organised for the LAN! Maybe even get some Winter SLAN Battlefield Red vs Blue on the go. Excellent!

8. More ideas. We have them. We will be releasing more info when we’ve worked out the details!

Do you have an idea we haven’t thought of? I mean, we’re pretty on this, but you know… miracles happen! If you do though, tell us over on our StraLAN Community Forums and we’ll do our best to make it happen!