I got in a smatchet duel once. When my opponent and I removed our smatchets from concealment we immediately realized the absolute mastery of combat each had attained, having chosen such a weapon, and called a draw because we both would have obviously killed each other within a tenth of a second of the fight commencing. A trained Smatcheteer can win against 4, 5, even as many as 22 & 3/4 men armed to the teeth with automatic-firing weapons and at least 2 or possibly three men with ninja swords so it's easy to understand that even training in smatcheteering with smatchets made of foam rubber could have fatal consequences. Indeed, that's why you often hear of Underground Smatchet rings popping up and leaving trails of dead combatants occasionally. Sad too, because when Sir Honeycutt Reginaire McSmatch (1796-1869) first invented the smatchet, it was understood to be strictly for hand to paw/claw/hoof combat versus elephants, tigers, lions and polar bears and not intended as a weapon of war.
