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The metaphor "Love is War" seems to be one of the most popular examples of metaphors in our culture. It looks like there are several different angles of interpretation for this metaphor. First is to see the romantic relationship as being an interaction between the conquered and the conqueror. Take for instance the phrase, "she conquered my heart." If we take a quick look at history we discover that this manner of speaking did not appear until the age of medieval chivalry, with the start of courtly love. There the bard or noble knight is smitten by the love of his life, usually some other woman of noble birth who was almost impossible for him to physically possess. This may be because of her very high social status, or the fact that she is unfortunately already married to another man. But this restriction only motivates the lover to idealize his beloved and put her up on a pedestal. In addition, this idealization motivated the noble knight to fight wars, slay I presume, imaginary dragons, and sing songs all for the sake of his beloved. In the course of his adventures, he might be able to then reverse the relational metaphor into ""he finally won her love."

However there is also a negative way of looking at this metaphor. There is that interpretation where the lovers are seen in a bitter struggle to dominate the other, until one finally breaks down in complete submission. As in "he pursued her relentlessly", or "she fled from his sexual advances." Though initially there might have been something generally noble and traditional the sense of courtship and finally winning the lover's heart, I think nowadays it's more unconsciously used in the sense that the sad French philosopher Sartre would have it, in that every romantic relationship is doomed to failure because the lover only wants to make the other into an object, a possession, while himself being objectified and possessed through the other person's eyes. In this sense of wanting to "possess" each other as objects, it would be a hopeless war with no peace in sight. I certainly do not think that such a love which looks at the other as a possession, i.e. for his or her body and benefits, can be still counted as love and not lust.

A final way is to see the war occurring outside of the relationship, in the sense that you have to guard and protect it from enemy forces or trials and tribulations. Hence such metaphors as "You have to fight for our relationship", or "You and me against the world." This can be seen as a more protective kind of love, and other people and circumstances which would seek to divide the lovers are seen as enemy forces which must be defeated or repelled. I suppose this too is a beneficial way of looking at the metaphor so long as it is not taken too extremely. Many factors outside the relationship can threaten it to breaking point, but there are also equally many other things out there which can enrich and strengthen it.

If you're looking for more metaphors for love, and especially less popular ones, you can check out the examples of metaphors enumerated by Kövecses in his "Metaphor and Emotion. You can also find good metaphor resources in the website below.