The Vale Cup — boarball at the Sowfield ⚽
New in v0.23, the Vale Cup is boarball: a World-Cup-flavoured football minigame played at the Sowfield stadium in Eastbrook Vale. Pick a banner nation and a sport role, kick a straw-stuffed boar hide around a walled pitch, and put more of it past the other side than they put past you. No damage, no death, no loot — just the game and the crowd.
⚽ The short version: queue from anywhere (1v1 up to 5v5), you're handed a sport kit for your role, and it's first to 5 goals or most goals after a single 6:00 period. Tied at full time → golden goal.
The lore
Long before the dead woke, Eastbrook's farmhands played boarball on the stubble after harvest — two mobs, one boar's hide stuffed with straw, two wagon gates dragged to either end of the green. That first ball, the Old Sow, hangs bronzed above the tavern hearth to this day. The prize was always the same dented milk pail the winners drank from: the Copper Pail.
When the Ashen Coliseum began sanctioning its war games, Marshal Redbrook answered with something gentler — a standing harvest truce on the old green. The wagon gates became goalposts; the green got walls, stands and a name: the Sowfield. Now companies come from every corner of the realm (and beyond) to play under their banners for the Copper Pail. Nobody bleeds at the Sowfield — the truce holds, boots and shoulders only, and the loudest thing on a match day is the crowd.
Where it is
The Sowfield is a permanent stadium at the southern edge of Eastbrook Vale — a 44 × 26-yard pitch with perimeter boards the ball banks off, raised stands north and south, braziers for floodlighting, and the Copper Pail on a plinth by the north gate. Groundskeeper Bram keeps the book at the gate. Walk-up spectating from the stands is always allowed.
How to play
- Queue from anywhere via the Vale Cup window, or talk to Groundskeeper Bram at the gate.
- Pick a bracket — 1v1, 2v2, 3v3, 4v4 or 5v5. Queue solo or as a party up to the bracket size.
- The team captain (party leader or solo queuer) picks the banner nation. If both teams pick the same one, the away side plays the inverted palette.
- When a full team is ready the match pops. There's a 30-second briefing, then a 3-second kickoff whistle.
On kickoff your class kit is swapped for a sport kit matched to your role — and restored exactly afterward. Your level, talents, XP and equipped gear are never touched; pets are stowed for the match and handed back after.
🕊️ The truce holds. Tackles only tumble you (about 1.2s, with diminishing returns) — nothing does damage and nobody can die at the Sowfield.
Winning a match
- One 6:00 period. Kick off at centre, teams in their own halves.
- The ball rolls with friction, banks off the boards (it's never out of play), and dribbles in front of you as you run into it. Kicks aim with a ground reticle; power is fixed per ability.
- Score more goals than the other side. After each goal there's a 4-second celebration, then kickoff goes to the team that conceded.
- First to 5 ends it early — the match is decided the instant either team reaches five.
- Tied at full time? It goes to golden goal — sudden death, capped at 2:00. First score wins; no score in two minutes is a draw.
The eight banner nations
Cosmetic only — pick the one you like; they play identically.
| Nation | Colours | Emblem | Character |
|---|---|---|---|
| Eastbrook Vale | Green & gold | Wheat sheaf | The home side, farmhands to the bone |
| The Mirefen | Teal & grey | Heron | Patient, long-legged, never hurried |
| Thornpeak | Ice blue & white | Mountain peak | Sure-footed and stubborn |
| The Ashen Coliseum | Red & black | Crossed swords | Play like it's still a war game |
| The Pale Choir | Pale blue & silver | Bell | Eerie, precise and very quiet |
| The Ogre Clans | Orange & umber | Fist | Shoulder-first and proud of it |
| The Pale Moon | Violet & silver | Crescent | Night players, light on their feet |
| The Copper Dig | Copper & brown | Pickaxe | Diggers who never stop running |
The four sport roles
Everyone on the pitch picks a role; the role kit replaces your class kit for the match only. Two abilities are shared — Kick (quick ground-aimed pass or shot) and Second Wind (a sprint burst) — the rest are role-specific.
| Role | Kit | Plays like |
|---|---|---|
| All-Rounder | Kick · Big Boot · Shoulder · Second Wind | A bit of everything — the default for 1v1 and 2v2 |
| Striker | Kick · Big Boot · Feint · Second Wind | Lives for the long boot and the quick sidestep |
| Sweeper | Kick · Shoulder · Hoof It · Second Wind | Bumps runners off the ball and hoofs it clear |
| Keeper | Kick · Keeper's Grip · Dive · Long Punt | Guards the goal box with grip, dive and punt |
- Big Boot — a long, aimed lob.
- Feint — a short sidestep dash to shake a defender.
- Shoulder — bump an opponent off the ball for a brief tumble.
- Hoof It — a long defensive clear.
- Keeper's Grip — a ball entering your own goal box sticks to you for a beat.
- Dive — a directional lunge that catches a crossing ball.
- Long Punt — a high, far clearance from the keeper.
Practice & bots
- Online: if the queue is short, bots backfill after 60 seconds so a match always pops. Backfilled matches don't count toward your record.
- Offline: a Practice button starts a full bot match immediately on a private pitch — the best place to learn a role.
Spectating, betting & leaderboards
- Anyone can walk up to the stands and watch a live match.
- A winners board in the Vale Cup window lists the top players by cup wins (realm-wide, online).
- Enter under your guild banner and your results credit a separate guild leaderboard.
- Parimutuel spectator betting is open during the pre-match briefing (min 1 copper, max 100 gold per player).
- A decided match — win, loss, or draw after golden goal — awards daily-reward points toward the daily leaderboard.
⏱️ Don't rage-quit. Deserting mid-match benches your slot (your team plays short) and locks you out of the queue for 5 minutes. The Groundskeeper remembers.
Rewards
Under truce rules there's no XP and no loot. What you play for:
- Daily-reward points on every decided match.
- A persistent wins / losses / draws record on your character.
- A place on the winners board and your guild's leaderboard.
What's not in yet
Cosmetic kits/tabards, cross-realm fixtures, instanced overflow pitches, penalty shootouts and full tournament brackets are all out of scope for the v0.23 release — for now it's one match at a time, decided on the pitch.
See also: the Arena & Protect Yumi guide for the other new game mode, and the world guide to get started.