I get that A-Pods are GREAT for swarms of infantry, I loved the idea when I first read up on the A-Pod (mech mounted Claymors) but after 23 years of playing, I have never once been swarmed by standard infantry. It's a very niche weapon.
It's one of those things that makes a TON of sense in-universe, not as much in gameplay. Look at the setup for an RCT- one regiment of Mechs, three of vehicles, FIVE of infantry. That's a whole lot of grunts. That's how most non-Clan militaries are laid out in the universe, there's a lot more conventional forces than Mech forces, even in the Civil War-era of huge Mech armies. Just how it is- economically, it's a lot easier to hand Billy Bob a rifle and tell him to kill the guys over there than it is to train him to operate an expensive walking tank. So that means most battlefields are going to be swarming (heh) with infantry- and thus the A-pod makes a ton of sense.
But in a tabletop game, most players tend to avoid using infantry- many even prefer not to use anything BUT Mechs (which is a shame, to me, but to each their own). So if you don't FACE infantry, you don't need that half-ton used on a silly A-pod that never will go off. It's one of those disconnects between the table and the books, unfortunately- hardly the most serious one, of course, but one regardless.
Now, for me, I'd like to see the ability to set A/B/M pods as mines, but that might get a little ugly.