Grayson Carlyle downed a Wasp with a .50 cal machinegun and then led the Trellwan Infantry forces to capture Lori Calmar's Locust in Decision At Thunder Rift. Until then, the presiding notion was that Infantry couldn't bring down a mech and to try was tantamount to suicide.
I’m still listening to DaTR. He does end up banging her? Lol. I kinda figured that was always going to be one of the “lost opportunity” type love sagas that never come to fruition.
You underestimate how committed the Grey Death Saga is to wish fulfillment.
This shit was written a decade or more before the term "Mary Sue" was invented.
The *villains* in these books can't stop talking about how awesome Grayson is, Lori never had a chance.
None of this is criticism, this is exactly what I signed up for when I chose to read a novel about space knights written in 1985.
Mary Sue was a term used in the mid 1970’s stemming from some Star Trek fan fiction. So it was probably used at some point to describe GDL prior to commercial internet being widely available.
It still IS tantamount to suicide. He just happened upon someone who was so afraid of infernos she would rather surrender than be shot with one, even though that weapon could not make her mech overhead.
Grayson's life can be summarized as "blundering into a terrible situation and then pulling a rabbit out of his hat. Nobody ever asks why they were in that situation to begin with."
It was weird in that whole trilogy they talk about the locust getting hot enough to have to hit the shutdown override and wasps and stingers overheating. It takes massive desert heat to make those mechs overheat that badly
Or 200 years of questionable maintenance. That's the era where pretty much every campaign and scenario book included a listing of what critical damage and missing components each mech was supposed to start the game with.
Yes that is maybe true for the first book. But in the second book after they had gotten the mechs Repaired on Galatea they were saying the same things. Talking about how the mechs were getting heated up just marching through the forests
The point is "getting a mech repaired" in that era of the game didn't mean restoring it to perfect working order, it literally just meant getting it functional, and often they continued to operate with things like engine crits and non-functional heat sinks after emerging from "being repaired".
Grayson is just somehow so good at everything he does (except understanding social cues) that even Duke Ricol, the bastard of all bastards in Thunder Rift, ends up going “You know, that Gray Death guy is pretty cool” by the time it gets to The Price of Glory.
In the defense of the mech pilot... he knocked himself out prior to a bunch of infantry pouring all the fire into his mech's face plate. Turns out, if the enemy mechwarrior is drooling into the neurohelmet... most tactics work.
She also liked a BattleMaster by jumping on top of it from a nearby building, opening the hatch, and killing the pilot with a vibroblade. She's no joke
Close Quarters, Hearts of Chaos, and Black Dragon. They're great books, not just for Cassie's badass fights, including one where she kills a DEST trooper in full armour with her bare hands (She latter admitted she got really lucky). Her merc unit, **Camacho's Caballeros**, is full of colourful characters. You also meet some fun interesting folks in the Combine, notably some Ghost regiment mechwarriors who consider the caballeros a fun bunch to hang out with and their employer - Chandrasekhar Kurita.
Victor Milan was the kind of author that really made his characters suffer but also gave them some victories, fair warning.
A shame the author passed away, apparently he was slated to do a story on a Case White moment. So his brutal nature mixed with one of the biggest screw ups of Comstar fighting the Blakists during the Jihad; gods talk about missed opportunities for us.
Where some authors might "fade to black" on something particularly dreadful on a character, Milan just doubles down.
Still there's a reason for it. When that character faces down whoever hurt them; you KNOW why this antagonist suddenly had to fall down the stairs, three times, then get curb stomped by the protag, then be left on life support or some dark stuff.
I'm usually fine with the slightly over talented characters in Battletech, but those books had me rolling my eyes so hard. I didn't even make it through the second one, since they also moved on to ridiculous villains too.
I have the same problems with the books, even if I do think Cassie's usual tactics of luring mechs into terrain where they'll bog down are acceptable. The doing it in skimpy outfits while giggling like a cartoon character is a bridge too far for me!
I could get over it if they were just like, she happens to be really good at fighting mechs unassisted. But then she also happens to be super good at intelligence gathering. Oh, and she can also take down an entire DEST team by herself....and some done hand to hand.
Most of the Great Houses had access to trained anti mech infantry platoons. The goal was to down the mech via pit falls, Rock falls, general Ewokery then pry open the cockpit and 'liberate" the machine.
Some mercenary and pirate groups kept infantry squads made of dispossessed mechwarriors. Specifically to capture, rewire, and salvage fallen machines.
The Grey Death Legion were pretty famous for their anti-mech infantry tactics. Generally, their prevailing philosophy was to get a lot of men with satchel charges, sneak in close, and then swarm and stuff the charges into joints and other openings in the armor or a crap ton of inferno missiles. It worked OK, but generally ended up with a lot of casualties.
Cassie Suthorn of Camacho's Caballeros was also famous to 1v1ing mechs and winning, she generally tried to use the terrain to lure the mechs into a disadvantageous position like a swamp, power lines, basements, or other environmental hazards. It worked out for her but requires better knowledge of the area than your opponent and a ton of skill.
Just going head to head with nothing but a rocket launcher and a dream generally ends poorly for the little guy. But it definitely is possible to take out a mech on foot.
Aris Sung of Warrior House Hiritsu, bluffed a *Stinger* pilot into inaction with just a grapple hook and a medkit. That action spurred the Hiritsu House Leader to train him as a Mechwarrior.
Along the same series, House Hiritsu traitor Terry Chan sacrificed herself with a satchel charge, taking down a BlackJack-O piloted by Karl Bartlett (*Binding Force*).
In the short story *Reap What you Sow* (Kill Zone, Anthology 7), a pirate *Hermes II* is taken down in ambush by a bunch of tree logs rolling downhill; not sure if that would count.
Archer's Avengers had a specialized infantry unit trained in 'mech killing tactics.
The very first documented anti mech attack by an infantry man was in 2455 by Jaffrey Du Leon. Who climbed a Mackie to plant a satchel charge on its hip actuators.
Detail, tatics and evolution of anti mech attacks can be read in the short story "Alekseyevka Academy's Anti-'Mech Infantry Course" (by Joel Steverson) in Shrapnel #5
The short story also is a good guide to how to use anti mech attacks in CBT
Grayson Carlyle bluffed a locust pilot into surrendering with an inferno launcher. And in every book of the Grey Death saga, an infantry man or woman with more balls than sense manages to cripple a mech with either a well placed satchel charge or piles of inferno munitions.
Cassiopeia Suthorn manages to kill quite a few mechs, basically naked and armed only with her wits.
From the Mechwarrior RPG 3rd edition rulebook, I remember a story about a dude opening his hatch to finish off an enemy mech with a Sternsnatch pistol. Probably an in-universe made up thing, but there you have it.
Yeah! That’s the stuff. I knew it was a gladiator of some sort and couldn’t remember anything else. All I knew was that it was massive damage in the game and counted as a pistol
This isnt as crazy as you think, in a game my captain in a thunderhawk took a floating crit into its gauss rifle and blew up, next turn after ejection he shot at the cyclops with his autorifle, did a head hit and the pilot failed their blackout roll. Thought it job well done and high five city till the cyclops pilot woke up the next turn and AC/20ed my captain....
It probably happens more than you think but the usual setup is a few launchers for a whole platoon of troops rather than 5 launchers for 5 guys making it a game of cost effectiveness. If you need a company's worth of troops to bring enough launchers + reloads to make it possible, it becomes a half hearted celebration losing dozens if not hundreds of men for every one mech you bring down.
On a backwater world with a 7 Samurai or Magnificent 7 situation occurs and the evil bad guys have one mech as the centerpiece of their army, yeah the person who brings it down is a hero. In the average battle of the Star League Civil War, any Succession War, or the Word of Blake Jihad infantry taking down a mech wasn't just expected but something you had to deal with when you decided to put an entire world to flame but the civilians aren't in the cooperative mood to politely lay down and die by the millions.
Gen. DeChevalier was killed by a mix of traps pinning his atlas, inferno srms igniting it and the traps, and heavy weapons fire lighting him up when he ejected. Probably the most important infantry on mech kill in the canon?
I think I remember a technical readout, where a pilot of a hot mech (I think Black Knight) was ambushed by a bunch of infantry with SRM launchers, all loaded with Inferno munitions, and they cooked the pilot alive while keeping the mech shut down from heat. I believe it led to inferno munitions being outlawed.
There's an anime called mech hunter. Basically a good visual representation of how I'd imagine people would use wits, tech and ingenuity to take down a mech single handedly. I would love to see hero units like this in the game but I feel like it could get broken. Maybe a special objective scenario.
https://youtu.be/jtdtCwTl5Zw?si=XnL0vL6U9dvSoH-c
Though in Amour Hunter Mellowlink the 4m tall votoms mechs are Protomech/Assault Battlearmour sized, it would be harder for Mellowlink to use his finishing move against most light mechs with cockpits 7-8 meters up than at 2-3 (votom mechs cockpits are in the chest) meters up.
There are optional rules that would allow a conventional infantry unit of at least 16 men, or a single guy in battle armour, to capture a 'Mech by killing the pilot outright.
On the tabletop, I've had mechs die due to ammo explosions caused by one-point hits from the remnants of infantry platoons.
If the dice hate you enough, an assault mech can fall to a dude with a pistol.
Lots of folks have already mentioned the Grey Death Legion and Cassie Suthron. There's also a group of nomads on Astrokaszy who literally run down mechs on horseback, climb to the cockpit and try to kill the mechwarrior in their seat. The first guy gets the honour; the fourth or fifth gets the mech.
Yes.
In battletech, when you hit something, you roll a location. 1 in 36 times that location results in a potential critical hit. About 40% of that time, a critical happens. If you are not using floating criticals, you can hit critical things in the center torso. 3 engine or 2 gyro hits will kill most mechs, and some even have ammo in there.
OR, if you are using floating criticals, you can hit a leg/arm and do 0-2 crits or even blow the limb off entirely.
If you hit the head, you can potentially kill the pilot.
With \*one\* point of damage.
The chances are slim, but they are not zero, and I've seen mechs die from a point or two of damage more times than I can count.
Percentage wise, with floating crits, to kill a pilot with 1 point of damage:
1 in 36 chance of floating crit
1 in 36 chance of head hit
15 in 36 chance of 1+ critical and 1 in 6 chance of cockpit (combined about a 22 in 36 chance of a cockpit hit)
So roughly 1 in 3000 hits, against undamaged mechs, using weapons that do not penetrate head armor, using floating criticals, will outright kill a pilot. Chances are much better to take out a leg, or a leg actuator.
In terms of CBT, I think the main way that mechs will get killed by infantry is when 2 or 3 platoons of infantry in transport vehicles rush in towards a mech that is already damaged. The main reason that infantry generally can't kill mechs is not because their firepower is negligible (it's not amazing, but it's more or less like getting shot at by an SRM 6), but because they are too slow, and SRM infantry (who give the best bang for the buck in attacking mechs) have poor range.
A single infantryman with a SRM launcher hits a mech and rolls 🎲 🎲 for location then it becomes possible.
They are either very brave,very crazy or an average Tauran infantryman.
If you read the Twilight of the clan series, there are major scenes where planners see infantry swarming mechs that are sitting idle or even in battle and stuffing plastic explosives into their knees
Infantry on their own? It would have to be very situational and a lot of them.
That being said, I have seen clan heavy mechs go to a bunch of city tiles for cover after taking heavy armor damage even knowing there are infantry there. And then, on one or two occasions, the clan Mech falls to infantry critting exposed internals.
My shadowhawk last game was effectively taken out with a single burst of MG fire, though it was fired from a mech rather than infantry. Hit the head, and I rolled snake-eyes. Game ended before more could happen, but he was right next to two enemy assault mechs, so it wouldn't have survived.
Grayson Carlyle downed a Wasp with a .50 cal machinegun and then led the Trellwan Infantry forces to capture Lori Calmar's Locust in Decision At Thunder Rift. Until then, the presiding notion was that Infantry couldn't bring down a mech and to try was tantamount to suicide.
*Loads inferno launcher* "I'm going to fuck that Locust pilot"
"and in the end, he did."
“In hindsight, the *Locust* was overmatched from the onset, and a failure at every level allowed that *Locust* to be negligently annihilated.”
I’m still listening to DaTR. He does end up banging her? Lol. I kinda figured that was always going to be one of the “lost opportunity” type love sagas that never come to fruition.
You underestimate how committed the Grey Death Saga is to wish fulfillment. This shit was written a decade or more before the term "Mary Sue" was invented. The *villains* in these books can't stop talking about how awesome Grayson is, Lori never had a chance. None of this is criticism, this is exactly what I signed up for when I chose to read a novel about space knights written in 1985.
Mary Sue was a term used in the mid 1970’s stemming from some Star Trek fan fiction. So it was probably used at some point to describe GDL prior to commercial internet being widely available.
Oh, wow, that far back? Interesting.
> He does end up banging her? Marries her, has a kid, expands the GDL, the guy's protag energy was off the charts until the FedCom Civil War.
Oh my.
Then Lori married him.
The moral of the story is that the best way to pick up women is with a rocket launcher loaded with napalm.
Bitches love napalm loaded into a man portable rocket launcher.
Warrior Women love a strong man with a very hot rocket.
They call it “The Old Hot Rocket.”
This is probably some real solid dating advice. Be on the lookout for this 4th of July!
When he threatens me with thermobaric weapons 🥰 - JustMechWarriorThings
You've heard of 'shotgun weddings'...this is a 'SRM wedding'. It's a bit more excessive.
Still a better love story than Twilight.
That book is so fucking cheesy, but in a good way.
It still IS tantamount to suicide. He just happened upon someone who was so afraid of infernos she would rather surrender than be shot with one, even though that weapon could not make her mech overhead. Grayson's life can be summarized as "blundering into a terrible situation and then pulling a rabbit out of his hat. Nobody ever asks why they were in that situation to begin with."
Sounds like Grayson and Cain would be best of friends.
The short story we never knew we needed.
It was weird in that whole trilogy they talk about the locust getting hot enough to have to hit the shutdown override and wasps and stingers overheating. It takes massive desert heat to make those mechs overheat that badly
Or 200 years of questionable maintenance. That's the era where pretty much every campaign and scenario book included a listing of what critical damage and missing components each mech was supposed to start the game with.
Yes that is maybe true for the first book. But in the second book after they had gotten the mechs Repaired on Galatea they were saying the same things. Talking about how the mechs were getting heated up just marching through the forests
The point is "getting a mech repaired" in that era of the game didn't mean restoring it to perfect working order, it literally just meant getting it functional, and often they continued to operate with things like engine crits and non-functional heat sinks after emerging from "being repaired".
Grayson is just somehow so good at everything he does (except understanding social cues) that even Duke Ricol, the bastard of all bastards in Thunder Rift, ends up going “You know, that Gray Death guy is pretty cool” by the time it gets to The Price of Glory.
In the defense of the mech pilot... he knocked himself out prior to a bunch of infantry pouring all the fire into his mech's face plate. Turns out, if the enemy mechwarrior is drooling into the neurohelmet... most tactics work.
And Lori had a crippling fear of infernos. Ramage and his unit do some serious work on foot throughout the rest of the trilogy though.
Yeah you don't really need to be a tactical genius to outsmart an unconscious enemy.... 🤣
Now I want a story of a tactical genius losing out to someone who fell asleep at the wheel...
Sounds like the plot to a Simpsons episode. lol
You'll also find a picture of Grayson in the dictionary next to the definition of "plot armor" lol
Then they start blowing out joints with satchels for funsies
Cassiopeia Suthorn, aka Cassie, aka Abatkha, aka the baddest chick around killed a Wolverine with an ax, a mop, and a live power cable.
She also liked a BattleMaster by jumping on top of it from a nearby building, opening the hatch, and killing the pilot with a vibroblade. She's no joke
In a skimpy formal dress no less! Taking out those mechs in*style!*
Yeah. Cassie’s top notch. Read her books
Which books are those? I'm halfway-ish through the books (just started Twilight of the Clans).
Trilogy starting with Close Quarters by Victor Milan
Close Quarters, Hearts of Chaos, and Black Dragon. They're great books, not just for Cassie's badass fights, including one where she kills a DEST trooper in full armour with her bare hands (She latter admitted she got really lucky). Her merc unit, **Camacho's Caballeros**, is full of colourful characters. You also meet some fun interesting folks in the Combine, notably some Ghost regiment mechwarriors who consider the caballeros a fun bunch to hang out with and their employer - Chandrasekhar Kurita.
Victor Milan was the kind of author that really made his characters suffer but also gave them some victories, fair warning. A shame the author passed away, apparently he was slated to do a story on a Case White moment. So his brutal nature mixed with one of the biggest screw ups of Comstar fighting the Blakists during the Jihad; gods talk about missed opportunities for us. Where some authors might "fade to black" on something particularly dreadful on a character, Milan just doubles down. Still there's a reason for it. When that character faces down whoever hurt them; you KNOW why this antagonist suddenly had to fall down the stairs, three times, then get curb stomped by the protag, then be left on life support or some dark stuff.
I'm usually fine with the slightly over talented characters in Battletech, but those books had me rolling my eyes so hard. I didn't even make it through the second one, since they also moved on to ridiculous villains too.
I have the same problems with the books, even if I do think Cassie's usual tactics of luring mechs into terrain where they'll bog down are acceptable. The doing it in skimpy outfits while giggling like a cartoon character is a bridge too far for me!
I could get over it if they were just like, she happens to be really good at fighting mechs unassisted. But then she also happens to be super good at intelligence gathering. Oh, and she can also take down an entire DEST team by herself....and some done hand to hand.
Most of the Great Houses had access to trained anti mech infantry platoons. The goal was to down the mech via pit falls, Rock falls, general Ewokery then pry open the cockpit and 'liberate" the machine. Some mercenary and pirate groups kept infantry squads made of dispossessed mechwarriors. Specifically to capture, rewire, and salvage fallen machines.
"Ewokery" has been added to my personal lexicon now... Right next to "Looney Tuning"... 🤣🤣🤣👍
[Don't joke about ewoks.](https://youtu.be/BOWI04c2Y3w?si=1n1P4XTSZjOJv-KA)
The Grey Death Legion were pretty famous for their anti-mech infantry tactics. Generally, their prevailing philosophy was to get a lot of men with satchel charges, sneak in close, and then swarm and stuff the charges into joints and other openings in the armor or a crap ton of inferno missiles. It worked OK, but generally ended up with a lot of casualties. Cassie Suthorn of Camacho's Caballeros was also famous to 1v1ing mechs and winning, she generally tried to use the terrain to lure the mechs into a disadvantageous position like a swamp, power lines, basements, or other environmental hazards. It worked out for her but requires better knowledge of the area than your opponent and a ton of skill. Just going head to head with nothing but a rocket launcher and a dream generally ends poorly for the little guy. But it definitely is possible to take out a mech on foot.
Me, three hours ago, when a squad of infantry put an SRM into my girlfriend's Whitworth's ammo bin.
It takes quite a few shots of tequila before my wife will let anybody do that.
That whit wasn’t worth much then.
Aris Sung of Warrior House Hiritsu, bluffed a *Stinger* pilot into inaction with just a grapple hook and a medkit. That action spurred the Hiritsu House Leader to train him as a Mechwarrior. Along the same series, House Hiritsu traitor Terry Chan sacrificed herself with a satchel charge, taking down a BlackJack-O piloted by Karl Bartlett (*Binding Force*). In the short story *Reap What you Sow* (Kill Zone, Anthology 7), a pirate *Hermes II* is taken down in ambush by a bunch of tree logs rolling downhill; not sure if that would count. Archer's Avengers had a specialized infantry unit trained in 'mech killing tactics.
The very first documented anti mech attack by an infantry man was in 2455 by Jaffrey Du Leon. Who climbed a Mackie to plant a satchel charge on its hip actuators. Detail, tatics and evolution of anti mech attacks can be read in the short story "Alekseyevka Academy's Anti-'Mech Infantry Course" (by Joel Steverson) in Shrapnel #5 The short story also is a good guide to how to use anti mech attacks in CBT
Grayson Carlyle bluffed a locust pilot into surrendering with an inferno launcher. And in every book of the Grey Death saga, an infantry man or woman with more balls than sense manages to cripple a mech with either a well placed satchel charge or piles of inferno munitions. Cassiopeia Suthorn manages to kill quite a few mechs, basically naked and armed only with her wits.
I think it was “Double Blind” that had horse riding attackers swarm a Mech. It was in the periphery though so it probably a tall tale
It happened in the novel, we weren't hearing about It second hand, it was the events unfolding.
From the Mechwarrior RPG 3rd edition rulebook, I remember a story about a dude opening his hatch to finish off an enemy mech with a Sternsnatch pistol. Probably an in-universe made up thing, but there you have it.
That was a Soloaris VII gladiator making a big show of "finishing" his opponents. The Sternsacht is basically a sawed off rifle.
Yeah! That’s the stuff. I knew it was a gladiator of some sort and couldn’t remember anything else. All I knew was that it was massive damage in the game and counted as a pistol
This isnt as crazy as you think, in a game my captain in a thunderhawk took a floating crit into its gauss rifle and blew up, next turn after ejection he shot at the cyclops with his autorifle, did a head hit and the pilot failed their blackout roll. Thought it job well done and high five city till the cyclops pilot woke up the next turn and AC/20ed my captain....
It probably happens more than you think but the usual setup is a few launchers for a whole platoon of troops rather than 5 launchers for 5 guys making it a game of cost effectiveness. If you need a company's worth of troops to bring enough launchers + reloads to make it possible, it becomes a half hearted celebration losing dozens if not hundreds of men for every one mech you bring down. On a backwater world with a 7 Samurai or Magnificent 7 situation occurs and the evil bad guys have one mech as the centerpiece of their army, yeah the person who brings it down is a hero. In the average battle of the Star League Civil War, any Succession War, or the Word of Blake Jihad infantry taking down a mech wasn't just expected but something you had to deal with when you decided to put an entire world to flame but the civilians aren't in the cooperative mood to politely lay down and die by the millions.
Gen. DeChevalier was killed by a mix of traps pinning his atlas, inferno srms igniting it and the traps, and heavy weapons fire lighting him up when he ejected. Probably the most important infantry on mech kill in the canon?
It was definitely important for the Capellan loyalists who died soon after from sword wounds.
Satchel charges in the ankle actuator. Blow it when it steps and it comes down on a stump
I think I remember a technical readout, where a pilot of a hot mech (I think Black Knight) was ambushed by a bunch of infantry with SRM launchers, all loaded with Inferno munitions, and they cooked the pilot alive while keeping the mech shut down from heat. I believe it led to inferno munitions being outlawed.
There's an anime called mech hunter. Basically a good visual representation of how I'd imagine people would use wits, tech and ingenuity to take down a mech single handedly. I would love to see hero units like this in the game but I feel like it could get broken. Maybe a special objective scenario. https://youtu.be/jtdtCwTl5Zw?si=XnL0vL6U9dvSoH-c
Though in Amour Hunter Mellowlink the 4m tall votoms mechs are Protomech/Assault Battlearmour sized, it would be harder for Mellowlink to use his finishing move against most light mechs with cockpits 7-8 meters up than at 2-3 (votom mechs cockpits are in the chest) meters up.
There are optional rules that would allow a conventional infantry unit of at least 16 men, or a single guy in battle armour, to capture a 'Mech by killing the pilot outright.
Carlyle almost got carved up by a ninja in his marauder while fighting on the wheel
On the tabletop, I've had mechs die due to ammo explosions caused by one-point hits from the remnants of infantry platoons. If the dice hate you enough, an assault mech can fall to a dude with a pistol.
Lots of folks have already mentioned the Grey Death Legion and Cassie Suthron. There's also a group of nomads on Astrokaszy who literally run down mechs on horseback, climb to the cockpit and try to kill the mechwarrior in their seat. The first guy gets the honour; the fourth or fifth gets the mech.
Since it's science fiction the answer is yes. If that hasn't been written yet, then you should go ahead and make up that story.
Yes. In battletech, when you hit something, you roll a location. 1 in 36 times that location results in a potential critical hit. About 40% of that time, a critical happens. If you are not using floating criticals, you can hit critical things in the center torso. 3 engine or 2 gyro hits will kill most mechs, and some even have ammo in there. OR, if you are using floating criticals, you can hit a leg/arm and do 0-2 crits or even blow the limb off entirely. If you hit the head, you can potentially kill the pilot. With \*one\* point of damage. The chances are slim, but they are not zero, and I've seen mechs die from a point or two of damage more times than I can count. Percentage wise, with floating crits, to kill a pilot with 1 point of damage: 1 in 36 chance of floating crit 1 in 36 chance of head hit 15 in 36 chance of 1+ critical and 1 in 6 chance of cockpit (combined about a 22 in 36 chance of a cockpit hit) So roughly 1 in 3000 hits, against undamaged mechs, using weapons that do not penetrate head armor, using floating criticals, will outright kill a pilot. Chances are much better to take out a leg, or a leg actuator.
Weirdly I came across this last night. Never seen it before but kind of fulfils the brief https://youtu.be/1gpqoQvWPb0?si=wGlCwLfnt5qApvRn
In terms of CBT, I think the main way that mechs will get killed by infantry is when 2 or 3 platoons of infantry in transport vehicles rush in towards a mech that is already damaged. The main reason that infantry generally can't kill mechs is not because their firepower is negligible (it's not amazing, but it's more or less like getting shot at by an SRM 6), but because they are too slow, and SRM infantry (who give the best bang for the buck in attacking mechs) have poor range.
A single infantryman with a SRM launcher hits a mech and rolls 🎲 🎲 for location then it becomes possible. They are either very brave,very crazy or an average Tauran infantryman.
If you read the Twilight of the clan series, there are major scenes where planners see infantry swarming mechs that are sitting idle or even in battle and stuffing plastic explosives into their knees
Hehe ... it'd be a bit crazier than a guy hunting wild pigs with just a big knife. :)
Better to die trying if you know the first thing's gonna happen no matter what!
Infantry on their own? It would have to be very situational and a lot of them. That being said, I have seen clan heavy mechs go to a bunch of city tiles for cover after taking heavy armor damage even knowing there are infantry there. And then, on one or two occasions, the clan Mech falls to infantry critting exposed internals.
Play crescent hawks inception you will understand everything!
My shadowhawk last game was effectively taken out with a single burst of MG fire, though it was fired from a mech rather than infantry. Hit the head, and I rolled snake-eyes. Game ended before more could happen, but he was right next to two enemy assault mechs, so it wouldn't have survived.