>>96401090
I do like melee weaponry on my mecha. Especially in settings where mechs are extremely fast relative to their size, their ability to close the distance - and the enormous forces involved in a mech-sized arm or leg moving full speed at you - might make melee weaponry useful once again, especially as a means to save on ammunition costs and weight.

I think they also would be practical for a lot of work where a warmech might not want to be blasting cannons or lasers, like knocking down an urban wall or clearing trees to make a path.

Not that there's anything wrong with punching, but I think a punch would run the risk of busting up the mech's hands, which is pretty bad if the weaponry is itself hand-carried. Considering humans already break their knuckles punching other humans, who are merely made of bone, I think mecha-scale brawling would cause too much self-damage. A dedicated weapon allows you to break the other guy's armor without breaking your own!