
Second, the model shows how outcomes depend on initial conditions.

Stalemates can be stationary or have recurrent ups and downs in the army sizes and in the inflicted and suffered losses. The idealized model we propose indicates that stalemates, i.e., conflicts with no winner, arise. Thus, traditional descriptive conceptual models, like those suggested long ago by Lanchester and Richardson (for a review, see ), are of limited help.

Armed conflicts often involve more than two groups, which typically differ in their military characteristics and recruitment policies. The interest in mathematical models of armed conflicts has increased in the last decades owing to the wide prevalence and complex nature of such conflicts.
