A (probably stupidly obvious) clarification regarding Indirect Artillery Fire

Hi all,

I've been searching on what remained available of rules FAQs after the Guild's demise, but haven't been able to find a definitive "official" clarification on a topic that arose recently in my gaming group.

Other players, running off the German edition, are trying to convince me that it is possible to assemble ANY NUMBER of artillery pieces in a single "Request Artillery" procedure and communications roll. This is apparently based on (what I consider a misinterpretation of) the plural use of "guns" in the section, and some wonky knowledge on the quality of WW2 communications networks.

My interpretation of the (English-language, which take priority for me) rules would be that an artillery or mortar observer may only request fire from a single battery (if off-table) or a single gun (if on-table) per request.

Furthermore, one may not combine multiple on-table pieces (e.g. multiple mortars bought as platoon support for multiple platoons) into a single battery for the purposes of indirect fire, unless the choice in questions includes multiple guns from the start.

Is this correct? I would greatly appreciate an "official" clarification since otherwise they are perfectly fine guys, and I don't think they are purposely powergaming, but don't want to run into a discussion on that I would be cheating them out of devastating artillery barrages.

I apologise if it has been answered before, but have only got into Battlegroup seriously last year and yet failed to locate a copy of the Dispatches (a Facebook luddite, me) in which I suspect it might have been covered.

Your interpretation of the rules is correct, no arbitrary combining of different artillery units.The relevant question of the Dispatches FAQ is copied below:

2. If I take individual medium mortars (80mm etc) as Platoon Support choices, can I deploy them all together and use them as battery, for communications tests etc?
No. They were bought separately so act separately. If a mortar battery is bought, then they will all fire together, but single mortars can’t ‘gang-up’ into ad-hoc batteries. They can be deployed together, but each would still need its own spotter.

Greetings
Wolflord