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Costly "wars of attrition" are common. Examples include: 1) the battle over the business of market-making in British government bonds that took place following the 1986 deregulation of the London financial markets, and 2) the battle that took place in the late 1980s between British Satellite Broadcasting and Sky Television over the U.K. satellite broadcasting business. The case explores what can happen when two companies find themselves engaged in a war of attrition.; Can be used to study the decisions facing a company engaged in a war of attrition. Analysis shows that given any length of time whatsoever, it is possible to rationalize a strategy of fighting for precisely that length of time. This provides a reason why wars of attrition often lead to long fights and large cumulative losses for the players involved. There is an irreducible "fog of war" that makes the war of attrition a very dangerous game to play.