Date: Wed, 4 Feb 1998 08:46:53 +0000
Subject: Re: Slot Machine question

> The question boils down to this. If someone has two different charges
> on either side of a (fess/pale/bend) does it qualify as slot machine?  I
> have been debating this for a while, and I have warned people away from
> it as 'not great style', but I don't know for sure if the ordinary
> counts towards the slot machine or not.

This is a good question. "Slot machine" only becomes an issue if there are more than two types of charge in the same "charge group." If you have arms with an Ordinary, the Ordinary becomes the primary charge group, and any charges around it become a secondary charge group.  Thus, "Argent a bend gules between a mullet and a crescent azure" has a primary group of the bend (one type) and a secondary group of a mullet and a crescent (two types) __ thus no slot machine.

However, there is a fair amount of precedent to the effect that a large non_Ordinary charge in the exact same role won't manage to be viewed as a primary surrounded by secondaries, but all three will be considered to be an equally weighted charge group, so "Argent a sword bendwise gules between a mullet and a crescent azure" will be considered one group, of three types, and "slot_machine", just as "Argent in bend sinister a mullet azure, a cross crosslet gules, and a crescent azure" would be considered one group, of three types.

Distinguishing the "charge groups" in a piece of armory is one of the trickiest things to do, in that there aren't really mundane references that will tell you this, and it is very important for our rules, not only this one on complexity, but our rules for armory conflict.

Zenobia Couronne Rouge

P.S. (from Zenobia, on "slot machine")

Email being what it is, the message above has a couple of oversimplifications and clarifications I'd like to address:

"Slot Machine": "The popular name given to the part of Rule for Submissions VIII.1.a. which states that "three or more types of charges should not be used in the same [charge] group." (College of Arms of the SCA Glossary of Terms)

An Ordinary is not _always_ the primary charge in armory. It is almost always the primary charge, though. The significant exceptions are:

Peripheral Ordinaries (chiefs, bordures, etc.) The Ordinaries that do not go through the middle of the field are not considered primary charges when there are other charges on the field.  In the arms "Argent a pale between two roundels gules" the Pale is the primary charge (an Ordinary) and the roundels are secondary. In the arms "Argent two roundels and a chief gules", the roundels are the primary charge group and the chief (an Ordinary, but an Ordinary that does not go through the center of the field) is a peripheral (non_primary) group. (The Blazon order gives a clue to this too.)

Overall charges are never the primary charge group. In the arms "Or a lion rampant gules overall a bend azure", the lion is a primary charge, even though the bend is an Ordinary. This is based on period heraldic practices where such overall charges were almost always due to cadency (changes to the main family coat to designate a subsidiary or "cadet" branch of the family.) [Ancient History alert: Old S.C.A. heraldic rules had the overall charge as the primary because it was the most visually prominent charge to the modern viewer. Our current rules try to follow period practices whenever possible, so this interpretation was changed.]

For help in distinguishing the charge groups in armory, see the following useful sources:

The College of Arms of the S.C.A.'s Glossary of Terms at
http://www.sca.org/heraldry/coagloss.html. Look under "Charge Group"
and the crossreferenced categories.

A Grammar of Blazonry, or Master Bruce's Guide to Excruicatingly Correct Blazon at at http://www.sca.org/heraldry/laurel/bruce.html.