History Main / GeneralFailure

* ''[[http://www.kipling.org.uk/poems_stellenbosh.htm Stellenbosh]]'' by Creator/RudyardKipling describes how it feels to have such a commander.

* Dimitri in ''VideoGame/FireEmblemThreeHouses'' leads his troops to their doom in all routes except his own, due to a combination of mental illness brought about by years of trauma clouding his judgement and the Blue Lions lacking a dedicated strategist. He tries to avert this in the Crimson Flower route, but, unfortunately for him, Edelgard and Hubert are able to figure out his strategy and turn the tables on him.

* ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer}}'' has Thanquol, one of the Grey Seers of the [[RatMen Skaven]]. He's such a disaster as a leader that when he was captured by a Slann, said Slann looked into the future, saw how much damage he was going to do to his ''own'' side, and ''sent him home''. To put that in perspective, Lizardmen as a whole (and Slann in particular) absolutely ''despise'' Skaven, but Thanquol is so ''abysmal'' that leaving him alive would do far more damage to the Skaven than killing him on the spot. The novel ''[[Literature/GotrekAndFelix Skavenslayer]]'', his first outing as a major antagonist, featured him repeatedly tipping off the main characters to major parts of ''his own plan'' in the hope of [[ChronicBackstabbingDisorder killing off any of his allies who he considered a threat]] and then being surprised when this caused problems for him down the line.

** A {{play|ingWithATrope}}ed with case for James Ironwood. When he first appears, he is a genuine force of good, and even when his blind spots are taken advantage of, he still manages to get back up and fight for the sake of others. After the Fall of Beacon, however, Ironwood begins burning the candle on both ends and slowly [[SanitySlippage loses his mind]]. He grows [[TheParanoiac paranoid]], {{shell|ShockedVeteran}}-shocked, and {{control|Freak}}ling, and he becomes [[WhenAllYouHaveIsAHammer obsessed]] with [[AppealToForce outward displays of strength]]. Combined with his [[NeverMyFault refusal to admit error]], by Volume 7, he has become a shadow of the man he once was, now continually making poor decisions that only blow up in his face and hand the villains victories, [[FlawExploitation just as Salem desires]]. [[spoiler:All of his actions in Volume 8 ultimately do nothing but impede the heroes' own efforts, as well as cause what little supporters he has remaining to turn on him. By the end, Atlas has fallen as a result of his own actions, he is all alone, and he dies forced to see that everything he did was AllForNothing.]]

* Sarge from ''WebAnimation/RedVsBlue'' [[{{Flanderization}} progressively becomes more and more like this as the series progresses]], eventually overruling his subordinates' more rational ideas in favor of his own ones based on {{Mad Scien|tist}}ce -- for example, suggesting the use of a radiation-induced strength to lift an object where using a jack would be just as appropriate (and more readily available).

** A {{play|ingWithATrope}}ed with case for James Ironwood. When he first appears, he is a genuine force of good, and even when his blind spots are taken advantage of, he still manages to get back up and fight for the sake of others. After the Fall of Beacon, however, Ironwood begins burning the candle on both ends and slowly [[SanitySlippage loses his mind]]. He grows [[TheParanoiac paranoid]], {{shell shocked|Veteran}}, and {{control|Freak}}ling, and he becomes [[WhenAllYouHaveIsAHammer obsessed]] with [[AppealToForce outward displays of strength]]. Combined with his [[NeverMyFault refusal to admit error]], by Volume 7, he has become a shadow of the man he once was, now continually making poor decisions that only blow up in his face and hand the villains victories, {{just as|Planned}} Salem desires. [[spoiler:All of his actions in Volume 8 ultimately do nothing but impede the heroes' own efforts, as well as cause what little supporters he has remaining to turn on him. By the end, Atlas has fallen as a result of his own actions, he is all alone, and he dies forced to see that everything he did was AllForNothing.]]

* ''Fanfic/AdviceAndTrust'': Gendo is far too focused on his scenario to make smart choices, and his tactical decision's read like a to-do list on how ''not'' to lead a military. Have your troops attack Bardiel in a straight line so they can be picked off one by one? Check. [[spoiler:Fire your best pilots when they adapt to the situation and defeat it without destroying Unit-03?]] Check. Use the dummy plugs (which haven't been field tested) against ''[[HeroKiller Zeruel]]''? Check. Forbid Shinji from helping against Arael and throw him in the brig when he disobeys you to help save the day? Check. That's not even getting into the fact that his MeanBoss tendencies have caused everyone to secretly turn against him.

** Ivan Byukur was dismissed from the Guard in disgrace after he got his entire armored regiment wiped out by lightly-armed rebels. Despite this, his father, the Governor of Fay, made him "Exalted Marshal" and assigned him to fight the Ork invasion of Fay. Which he promptly bungled, getting the best-equipped of their ground forces wiped out in one engagement.
** Admiral Mikasev, Byukur's counterpart in the SDF, wasn't any better. Immediately after replacing a more competent Admiral, he proceeded to kill a tenth of the flagship's crew for no reason at all, completely screwed up the defense of the planet, ordered the use of excessive firepower against a single ship, and then stated he would have even more crewmen killed. It is no wonder that the crew, led by the Mechanicus members, mutinied in order to help save Fay.

** The officers selected by the Munitorum to serve as Division and Corps commanders for Operation Caribbean are almost exclusively this for a variety of reasons. There are a handful of competent officers whose careers had stalled for political reasons, but they're vastly outnumbered by the washouts, burnouts, and outright incompetents, not to mention the ones willing to sacrifice entire armies for their own glory.

** Overlord Simut was kept on rear guard duty at the Throne of Oblivion because Sobekhotep felt he was too incompetent to trust against the Orks. When sent against the Imperium, Simut ignores warnings from his crew since he believes humanity is too primitive to pose a threat and any evidence of advanced technology like Kane particles he considers to be false. As a result, the fleet blunders right into Taylor's trap and is completely wiped out.

** Visser Three [[spoiler:later Visser One]] embodies this trope. That's what you get for having a society basically built on AsskickingEqualsAuthority -- ThePeterPrinciple kicks in and your stealth invasion ends up being run by a guy who kills his own troops at the slightest provocation. The heroes occasionally work to keep him in charge but are hamstrung by the "stealth" aspect. What really drives the point home is that Visser Three's ''entire species'' is built around, and understands the importance of a stealthy approach.[[note]]The main resource Yeerks want from invaded planets is [[GrandTheftMe living host bodies]], open warfare is incredibly costly for them.[[/note]] Even the superiors nearly as ruthless as he is manage to understand this. Visser Three was a nobody who rocketed up to his rank thanks to being the only Yeerk to possess an Andalite (out of sheer luck as much as anything else), and his ego ballooned from there.

** Clan generals have the same tendencies as the above Combine example. For centuries, Clan society focused around the gaining of honour through fair-minded, minimal-waste engagements fought entirely on the tactical level. High-ranking commanders in Clan society tended to be [[AsskickingEqualsAuthority those who could kick the most ass inside a 'mech cockpit]], not those [[TheStrategist who could lead two hundred 'mechs to victory in a large battle]], or prepare the logistics needed to use those 'mechs to take a dozen worlds. Thus, when the time came to invade the gigantic Inner Sphere, the Clan leaders (with two exceptions) proved unable to think of the invasion in strategic terms and treated the whole thing as they would any inter-Clan struggle, bidding down their armies and engaging the Inner Sphere in "fair" fights to obtain maximum honour for each warrior. Despite the element of surprise, the Inner Sphere being weakened by civil war, and superior infantry and [=BattleMechs=], the Clans failed to capture less than a fifth of the Inner Sphere before the invasion ground to a halt. This got so bad that when Khan Ulric of the Wolf Clan (one of the two aforementioned exceptions) kept on moving his front lines because he'd actually prepared for fighting the Inner Sphere, the other Khans accused him of cheating. Not for nothing is the most successful general in the history of the Clans, Alaric Ward, actually the genetic son of an ''Inner Sphere'' noblewoman.

** General Lord Ronald Rust from ''Literature/{{Jingo}}'', a man who believes nursery stories qualify as military precedent and will deliberately pursue a moronic strategy because the enemy won't expect it.

** General Lee Oliver, or "General Wait-And-See" as many of his troops call him. According to Boone, he received his position because he's friends with President Kimball. His strategy (or "Tunnel Vision" as Mr. House calls it) to defend Hoover Dam from Caesar's Legion consists of one glorious slaughterhouse on the dam, in an effort to overshadow Ranger Chief Hanlon's more tactically nuanced defense of the dam four years earlier. This means his only tactic is to mass troops on the Dam, leaving other territories and bases deeply undermanned and open to the Legion's attacks. It's actually possible to convince Lanius, the opposing commander, to back down on the basis that the defenses before him have been placed so incompetently and the battle so easy that it has to be a trap, like with Joshua years earlier. It's not a trap; Oliver's just that dumb. In a minor twist, some of the decisions he gets criticized for turns out to have been the ''right'' call (for example, pulling the Rangers from the overlooking ridge, where they'd be most useful... if not for that the Legion ''also'' realised that and was trying to get artillery ''specifically'' to strike at the Rangers they expected to be on the ridge).

** Clan generals have the same tendencies as the above Combine example. For centuries, Clan society focused around the gaining of honour through fair-minded, minimal-waste engagements fought entirely on the tactical level. High-ranking commanders in Clan society tended to be [[AsskickingEqualsAuthority those who could kick the most ass inside a 'mech cockpit]], not those [[TheStrategist who could lead two hundred 'mechs to victory in a large battle]], or prepare the logistics needed to use those 'mechs to take a dozen worlds. Thus, when the time came to invade the gigantic Inner Sphere, the Clan leaders (with two exceptions) proved unable to think of the invasion in strategic terms and treated the whole thing as they would any inter-Clan struggle, bidding down their armies and engaging the Inner Sphere in "fair" fights to obtain maximum honour for each warrior. Despite the element of surprise, the Inner Sphere being weakened by civil war, and superior infantry and [=BattleMechs=], the Clans failed to capture less than a fifth of the Inner Sphere before the invasion ground to a halt. This got so bad that when Khan Ulric of the Wolf Clan (one of the two aforementioned exceptions) kept on moving his front lines because he'd actually prepared for fighting the Inner Sphere, the other Khans accused him of cheating.

** The other Legate, Lanius, isn't exactly the best of generals either. Joshua himself says he's not interested in leading anyone except in battle, and true enough, he's a fairly decent tactician in the middle of an actual fight. In terms of strategy, however, he has no idea what he's doing but keeps on charging anyways because his endless thirst for blood keeps him going, and he's far too brutal on both his legion and everyone else to really command an army for any length of time beyond the first battle. The Legion ''will'' collapse if he's left in charge, by a combination of mismanagement, bad logistics, [[YouHaveFailedMe taking his own mistakes out on his legionnaires]] and him constantly picking fights he can only win [[PyrrhicVictory Pyrrhically]], or not at all (he is the ''only'' one stupid enough to think he can and should pick a fight with [[UndefeatableLittleVillage the Boomers]], for example, and will take absurd casualties wiping them out).

* A very common problem at the Empire's armies in ''LightNovel/AlderaminOnTheSky'' is that they love putting rank ahead of competence or experience, meaning soldiers constantly fight hopeless battles to cover up for their superiors' incompetence, usually at the cost of the lives of competent officers.
** And the worst offender has to be L.T. Colonel Safida: the guy couldn't even put together a shopping list if his life depended on it, with his overworked and unthanked top subordinate keeping the regiment together. He orders pointless and cruel attacks on the native population, and when they rightfully rebel, he gets several battalions of his army killed by ignoring environmental conditions (like mountain sickness). He even gives a hostile nation a perfect excuse to launch a jihad thanks to his constant abuse towards spirits. [[spoiler:Thankfully, he's court-martialed and executed for his war crimes once the situation is resolved by the protagonists.]]

* ''Literature/LegendOfTheGalacticHeroes'' has plenty on both sides of the war, though the Galactic Empire has many incompetent nobles who have risen to leadership positions through {{Nepotism}} and wealth rather than talent. Reality hits them during the Lippstadt Rebellion, which puts all the Failures on one side, and Lohengramm's extremely talented officers on the other -- The rebelling nobles turn out to be a bunch of hot-headed, glory-seeking, bickering idiots who practically defeat themselves tactically and strategically by doing things like rushing out for a fight, before shooting your own backlines to clear a route of escape, or nuking a rebelling planet under your jurisdiction and destroying all morale and support your movement desperately needs.

* In ''Literature/AngelInTheWhirlwind: The Oncoming Storm'', Admiral Morrison plays the HeadInTheSandManagement trope to the hilt, preferring partying to doing his job (which leaves his fleet in horrible disrepair and morale deadly low), and convincing himself that the coming war won't come if he doesn't do anything to antagonize the Theocracy. He's presumed dead after the Theocracy invades, and protagonist Kat Falcone repeatedly laments not having killed him herself, never mind the consequences.

* ''Series/RedDwarf'': Overlapping with GeneralRipper is resident military nut Rimmer. In "[[Recap/RedDwarfSeasonIVMeltdown Meltdown]]", when given the chance to act out his fantasies by leading an army of wax robots based on historical figures to victory against a faction of evil wax-droids, winds up killing three of his own soldiers from overexertion during training exercises, sacrifices all but one of his army as a distraction, and [[KillEmAll commits genocide on the entire wax-droid population]], achieving victory in a technical sense but one that horrifies the rest of the Boys from the Dwarf.

* Major General Sir Alan Jacks in the satire ''Year of the Angry Rabbit''. The Australian Prime Minister keeps him as TheScapegoat in case something goes wrong, and justifies his appointment to the media by saying that as Jacks has been wrong about every intelligence prediction he's ever made, the odds are that he will [[InsaneTrollLogic finally be right at just the right time]]. Strangely this turns out to be true -- it's Jacks who has the idea of using the eponymous rabbits (carrying a strain of myxomatosis lethal to humans) as a biological weapon so Australia can TakeOverTheWorld.

* General Pong Krell in ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars'' is this when PlayedForDrama. His first command is to order his battalion to march through hostile territory along an open road surrounded by trees, to attack a fortified city. They never make it there, because it turns out that the road was covered in landmines. When the commanding clone, Rex, orders a retreat after a withering assault, Krell threatens to remove him from command. He then follows this up by making no attempts at reconnaissance against an enemy with completely unfamiliar technology, forcing exhausted soldiers on multi-day marches, ordering valuable special forces units to the front lines, leading from the rear instead of using his Jedi powers to fight alongside them (sowing disrespect and low morale in his men in the process), making his troopers travel through a narrow gorge to attack a base defended by heavy enemy tanks and aircraft, insulting and belittling the clones with regular bigoted remarks, planning to launch a full forward assault on a city protected by long-range missiles, and court-martialing soldiers for disobeying his orders, even though their disobedience brought their side a crucial victory and saved thousands of lives. [[spoiler:However, this is 100% deliberate on his part; he's TheMole, and actively doing everything in his power to sabotage his own side with his command style]].

* Sarge from ''Machinima/RedVsBlue'' [[{{Flanderization}} progressively becomes more and more like this as the series progresses]], eventually overruling his subordinates' more rational ideas in favor of his own ones based on {{Mad Scien|tist}}ce -- for example, suggesting the use of a radiation-induced strength to lift an object where using a jack would be just as appropriate (and more readily available).

* ''ComicBook/XMen'': For all his lofty ambitions of founding a mutant nation, ComicBook/{{Magneto}}'s actual record of statecraft ranks somewhere between incompetent and abysmal. Setting aside the sheer numbers of SpaceBase territories he's lost over the years (multiple Asteroid Ms, Avalon, his floating citadel in ''ComicBook/UltimateXMen''), there's also that time during the 90's when he got literally everything he'd ever demanded of the world handed to him when the U.N. allowed him to seize control of the mutant-heavy island nation Genosha. With a population of millions of mutants supporting him, a resource-rich nation with its own infrastructure already in place, and full diplomatic recognition from the world, Magneto ''still'' found a way to screw it up (so much so that his tenure as Genosha's dictator ends with ''all 16 million of its resident mutants getting genocided by Sentinels''). Amazingly, the mutant community continues to look to this guy for leadership.

* General Brigham from ''Film/EdgeOfTomorrow'' is an interesting example. It's actually unclear how competent he is, because the enemy's time-travel abilities mean that they can retroactively turn any decision he makes into the worst possible one. The overall effect is of a particularly spectacular General Failure, but only because he's unaware of his outlandish situation and has understandably serious difficulty wrapping his brain around it once he is informed.[[note]] Plus, the guy trying to explain the situation is the same DirtyCoward he'd thrown into a Penal Battalion at the start of the movie[[/note]]

* General Brigham from ''Film/EdgeOfTomorrow'' is an interesting example. It's actually unclear how competent he is, because the enemy's time-travel abilities mean that they can retroactively turn any decision he makes into the worst possible one. The overall effect is of a particularly spectacular General Failure, but only because he's unaware of his outlandish situation and has understandably serious difficulty wrapping his brain around it once he is informed.

[[caption-width-right:333:"[[http://www.vgcats.com/comics/?strip_id=156 Everyone else just whore all the aircraft.]]"]]

* General Damon from the ''Anime/ValkyriaChronicles'' anime adaptation is, like in the videogame, an arrogant {{Fat Bastard}} that got his position through nepotism and consistently sends the Gallian Army to their dooms and forces the militia to clean up after them.

* Pretty much any member of the military who appears in the Franchise/MarvelUniverse except for Comicbook/NickFury is an idiot, but General Ross ''really'' takes the cake. His lifelong goal (some would say obsession) with bringing [[Comicbook/IncredibleHulk the Hulk]] to justice has obviously [[LawfulStupid caused more casualties and property damage]] than he ever could have prevented, and cost the U.S. Army a fortune, all without results. This probably has something to do with the fact he [[TooDumbToLive keeps insisting on]] [[BullyingTheDragon taking on the guy who turns into a giant, super-strong, bulletproof monster when under stress...]] [[ShootingSuperman by shooting him on sight]]. And it only gets worse; Ross proves himself the worst hypocrite imaginable when he becomes the Comicbook/RedHulk, becoming just as much a menace as the one he tries to bring down.

Contrast FourStarBadass, GeneralRipper, ColonelBadass, SergeantRock and SurroundedByIdiots.

This trope does not happen too much in RealLife. Really incompetent officers usually never even graduate from the military academy: incompetent officers mostly don't tend to get promoted past Captain (Lieutenant in the Navy) level. Most real life officers appearing as General Failures are simply unlucky ones (and conversely many military "geniuses" just got lucky and afterwards announced IMeantToDoThat).

Real life General Failures may have existed and were quite notorious, but they alone were only responsible for a ''fraction'' of military blunders through history.

** Wyald may be the head of one of the most successful knightly orders in his nation, but he's little more than a psychotic BloodKnight whose list of tactics begins and ends with "charge in and kill everything." He actually tends to make things harder for himself, such as [[ForTheEvulz pausing in his pursuit of a valuable target to butcher a town for fun]]. The only reason his troops follow him is because he's made it clear that [[BadBoss nothing the enemy can do equals what he'll do if they try running]], and even then, he'll frequently get them killed just for the hell of it. As he's a OneManArmy with SuperStrength and a giant demon form, he sees tactics as completely unnecessary.

** ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamAge'' has [[InformedAttribute Zeheart Galette]], a CharClone who is being stuck in the setting where the KidHero is less cynical and failure prone. The guy complains a lot about his upgrades, botches a lot of missions against Asemu, becomes benched by the third season and ultimately ends up having very unstable mentality when he's put into a charge. One of his last deeds involves killing a major part of ''his own army'' in an attempt to take out one ship ([[SenselessSacrifice where no enemy dies from the result]]). Nobody watching the show is convinced that his deed is sympathetic and necessary like the show tries to imply.

* ''Manga/HellsParadiseJigokuraku'' has Eizen. Despite holding the highest rank of the Yamada Asaemon clan, he is the very first of the Asaemon to die on Kotaku. Even his death is anticlimatic, being [[OneHitKill one-shotted]] by the criminal of his charge, when those lower ranked than him manages to survive encounters against more powerful enemies. It may be justified that the ranks within the clan is not distributed purely based on skill, but on their suitability to inherit the clan, so Eizen may be competent in other areas outside battle, but unfortunately those skills are useless on Kotaku island.

* ''Literature/LegendOfTheGalacticHeroes'' has plenty on both sides of the war, though the Galactic Empire has many incompetent nobles who have risen to leadership positions through {{Nepotism}} and wealth rather than talent. Reality hits them during the Lippstadt Rebellion, which puts all the Failures on one side, and Lohengramm's extremely talented officers on the other -- The rebelling nobles turn out to be a bunch of hot-headed, glory-seeking, bickering idiots who practically defeat themselves tactically and strategically by doing things like rushing out for a fight, before shooting your own backlines to clear a route of escape, or nuking a rebelling planet under your jurisdicton and destroying all morale and support your movement desperately needs.
* [[{{Necromancer}} Kabuto Yakushi]] of ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'' has shown to be a General Failure throughout the WarArc. [[spoiler:Edo Tensei who should have ''steamrolled'' the opposition, such as Deidara or Sasori, are sacrificed extremely early on for stupid reasons and there isn't even a proper attempt in the manga to free Deidara after he's been captured; while Sasori, despite being resurrected, isn't even given his second scroll of puppets to fight with, thus robbing him of his poison and his entire arsenal. Kinkaku and Ginkaku are sealed as well -given their personalities they were the worst choice that Kabuto could have done since they worked- as Kinkaku demonstrated, far better as pseudo-Jinchuriki berserkers. Nagato and Hanzo the Salamander, perhaps his second and third/fourth most powerful Edo Tensei, are sealed --the former given a pathetic performance since Kabuto doesn't even give him his normal field of vision, while Hanzo is foolishly set against the [[SamuraiInNinjaTown samurai leader Mifune]], one of the few people Hanzo recognized as a WorthyOpponent in life... the problem being that Hanzo's skills have declined since their epic battle, while Mifune's have improved and his entire fighting style is the perfect counter to Hanzo. Finally, despite having ''four Kages'', he loses all all of them consecutively. The only times when he plays it smart are with Zabuza and Haku, as well as [[GreaterScopeVillain Madara Uchiha]] which actually scores some wins]].
* Spandam from ''Manga/OnePiece'' is an abnormally vicious variation, with some of his schemes (such as framing Tom) actually coming to fruition. Yet he's still incompetent enough to mistake a Nuclear Football for his cell phone[[note]] To clarify, Spandam was given a Golden variant of the One Piece phones known as Den Den Mushi (Transponder Snail) by Marine Admiral Aokiji. Unlike the normal variety used for communication, the Golden version is used exclusively for one thing, to summon a powerful military attack known as the ''Buster Call'' to completely annihilate whatever island its currently located on. Spandam being a moron, accidentally activates it while trying to use his regular one to contact his forces[[/note]]. This is actually a living example of VillainousLineage since his father, Spandine, was about the same; however, Spandine, unlike his son, drew the line at killing civilians and his own men, judging from his reaction to Sakazuki doing both.

* ''ComicBook/InjusticeGodsAmongUs'': As the leader of the Insurgency against Superman's Regime, Batman has a very poor record of victories against his enemies and suffers a five-year grueling campaign partly he is undermanned (most of his underlings are {{badass normal}}s while the Regime has several superpowered metahumans in their ranks), but mostly because he insists in fighting a war while at the same time adhering to his "no-kill" rule against opponents that can and will kill. Over the course of the comic, he loses several allies and suffers many crushing defeats, and he is unable to come up with a solution against threats that go beyond his ken such as Apokoliptian invaders or Greek Gods. It takes him teleporting heroic versions of his fallen companions to help turn the tide of the war to his favor.

* ''ComicBook/XWingRogueSquadron'': Admiral Lon Isoto. His nickname was actually even "Isoto the Indecisive", as his utter incompetence had notoriety. Ysanne Isard, the Imperial Intelligence Director, used his idiocy for her advantage. She recommended him as commander of the Imperial forces at Brentaal IV. Sate Pestage, acting Emperor, foolishly took her advice. Despite help from the Imperials' best starfighter group, the 181st led by [[AcePilot Soontir Fel]], he naturally managed to lose the planet handily against the New Republic. Isard then [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness had him shot]] immediately, as he'd served his purpose in making Pestage look bad so she could take over.

* A [[WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender Zhao]] expy in ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/10518212/3/The-Pride The Pride]]'' falls firmly under this trope. Besides deciding on a head-on charge instead of the suggested long range bombardment (because face-to-face combat was "more glorious"), he continues his charge after the opposing army uses the Hidden Mist Jutsu to hide their movements and allow The Pride to utterly decimate his forces.
* As re-envisaged by Creator/AAPessimal, the ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' has no shortage of General Failures. At the tail-end of Empire, a [[AmoralAfrikaner subject people]] who had had it up to here with Ankh-Morporkian colonial rule fought its [[UsefulNotes/TheSecondBoerWar War of Independence]]. The great-grand-daughter of a Boor War rebel leader tells her class at the Assassins' Guild School that the Boer generals didn't need to be tactical geniuses. Just better than people called Rust, Eorle, Selachii or Venturi. Which in her opinion did not raise the bar fantastically high.

** Admiral Mikasev, Byukur's counterpart in the SDF, wasn't any better. Immediately after replacing a more competent Admiral, he proceeded to kill a tenth of the flagship's crew for no reason at all, completely screwed up the defense of the planet, ordered the use of excessive firepower against a single ship and then stated he would have even more crewmen killed. It is no wonder that the crew, led by the Mechanicus members, mutinied in order to help save Fay.
** The Ulm 2nd were assigned to a grossly incompetent Lord Commander. For twenty days he sent the 2nd, a unit consisting solely of cavalry, against a well-defended fortress. The result was a one-sided massacre and the General commanding the Ulm who tried to protest the orders was disappeared. The slaughter only ended with the Lord Commissar executed the Lord Commander.

** Overlord Simut was kept on rear guard duty at the Throne of Oblivion because Sobekhotep felt he was too incompetent to trust against the Orks. When sent against the Imperium, Simut ignores warnings from his crew since he believes humanity is too primitive to pose a threat, and any evidence of advanced technology like Kane particles he considers to be false. As a result the fleet blunders right into Taylor's trap and is completely wiped out.

* Adolf Hitler is presented as this in ''Film/{{Downfall}}''. Hitler revokes control of his troops from his more experienced (and sane) commanders for perceived failures and increasingly tries to micromanage his units. He disparages the generals in Berlin as idiots who don't know what they're doing. Despite this he himself shows a weak grasp of tactics by declaring that battalions and divisions on the verge of being overrun [[LastStand will hold their ground and fight]] [[HonourBeforeReason no matter what]], and at times even grossly overestimating the fighting capacity of units which are so under-supplied and under-manned that they may as well not exist. Even the other members of his inner circle give each other nervous looks as he makes these costly decisions. After the last offensive ordered by his generals, Unternehmen Zitadelle/The Battle of Kursk of July 1943, failed and lead to a spectacular reversal which cost them Ukraine and all the Reich's (experienced) Panzer forces, this became Truth in Television for the remainder of the war.

** Admiral Kendal Ozzel from ''Film/TheEmpireStrikesBack'', whom Vader {{Force choke}}s to death for incompetence in his only scene, telling him "{{You have failed me}} for the last time, Admiral." This was explained in ''Franchise/StarWarsLegends'': He once served in the Clone Wars and was willing to [[WeHaveReserves senselessly sacrifice hundreds of clones and Jedi to win]], and when things start to go south, he would surrender to save his own skin. The only reason why he even got such a high position was because he had connections with Palpatine. Vader remembers Ozzel, and years later, the next time Ozzel screwed up in front of him [[YouHaveFailedMe was his last]].

** Visser Three [[spoiler:later Visser One]] embodies this trope. That's what you get for having a society basically built on AsskickingEqualsAuthority -- ThePeterPrinciple kicks in and your stealth invasion ends up being run by a guy who kills his own troops at the slightest provocation. The heroes occasionally work to keep him in charge, but are hamstrung by the "stealth" aspect. What really drives the point home is that Visser Three's ''entire species'' is built around, and understands the importance of a stealthy approach.[[note]]The main resource Yeerks want from invaded planets is [[GrandTheftMe living host bodies]], open warfare is incredibly costly for them.[[/note]] Even the superiors nearly as ruthless as he is manage to understand this. Visser Three was a nobody who rocketed up to his rank thanks to being the only Yeerk to possess an Andalite (out of sheer luck as much as anything else), and his ego ballooned from there.

* ''Literature/TheBlackCompany'': The Limper frequently clashes with the Black Company. He never wins, and ends each confrontation a little more disfigured than before, until he's finally just a head strapped to a wicker body.

* [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivan_Paskevich Ivan Paskevich]] is portrayed as this in ''Literature/TheDeathOfTheVazirMukhtar'', although a) he's actually pretty successful, though this is is usually attributed to his [[HypercompetentSidekick Hypercompetent Sidekicks]] and b) not altogether incompetent -- he's a good tactician, just not supreme theatre commander material and a bad strategist, and the latter has actually made him a master of the IndyPloy.

** Several novels clarify that the military mindset of Ankh-Morpork has historically ''encouraged'' this, with generals being upper-class twits whose idea of fighting is to throw their troops at the enemy, count the resulting casualties, and if the number is a positive sum on their side, good. Actually ''winning'' is considered a nice bonus, but all that really matters is achieving [[WarIsGlorious a glorious slaughter]] that makes it into the history books. The most famous tactician in history, General Tacticus, was seen as a ''cheater'' for actually doing everything he could to avert this trope and [[AFatherToHisMen keep as many of his men alive as possible]]. The main purpose of the military is to keep people like this occupied and out of town; the city's real power is in its merchant class, and we're told that more than one invading nomadic horde has been let into the city without a fight only for them to find that they've somehow become just another ethnicity in the melting pot by the time they sober up. The aforementioned Tacticus is seen as an example of how dangerous a truly intelligent general can be, as he eventually became the duke of a rival city and ended up declaring war on Ankh-Morpork itself and caused the downfall of its empire.

** Crown Prince Ladisla proves to be an utter imbecile even by UpperClassTwit standards, and manages to turn his first (and only) command from a mere defeat into an utter catastrophe. Ignoring the advice of more seasoned officers in favor of sycophantic young lords, he takes an army made up mostly of untrained, poorly equipped and exhausted peasant levies against hardened Northern veterans, and abandons a defensive position to take the fight to them in the certainty that a slight numerical advantage combined with 'boldness' will carry the day. He then proceeds to squander an elite heavy cavalry unit against an obvious diversion, at which point the Northern counterattack causes him to descend into panicked confusion, and his army is mostly slaughtered in the ensuing rout.

** In the later book ''Literature/TheHeroes'', Lieutenant Jalenhorm has ended up as a Union general purely because he was one of King Jezal's old drinking buddies, and is described as a decent and trustworthy man who would have been [[ThePeterPrinciple an excellent lieutenant, a good captain, a passable major and a poor colonel]], but as a general he's a borderline disaster, as he has no grasp of things like "delegation" and "the big picture", and wastes time trying to handle every minor thing himself. To his credit, there's nobody who understands this more than Jalenhorm himself -- he never wanted the promotion in the first place and is fully aware that he's completely out of his depth... but the king wouldn't take no for an answer. After one particular blunder in which thousands of his men died needlessly he tried to take responsibility by resigning immediately, but the new Lord Marshal Kroy (who between books had managed to [[TookALevelInBadass become a far better commander]] and AFatherToHisMen) is unable to allow it because the aforementioned {{Nepotism}} makes it politically impossible.

** Most flag officers, thanks to the ForeverWar with the [[OneNationUnderCopyright Syndicate Worlds]] having an extremely high attrition rate. As a result, complex fleet tactics are forgotten and AttackAttackAttack mentality is prevalent with each ship individually charging at the enemy for a slug-out mostly relying on the "fighting spirit" and the captain's [[HonorBeforeReason personal honor]]. By the time Geary is awoken from [[HumanPopsicle cold sleep]], he is the most brilliant tactician in the galaxy by virtue of remembering anything at all about fleet tactics. Most admirals by this point are more politicians than fleet commanders, providing suggestions and making proposals to ship captains, who then vote on whether or not to follow them. Geary puts an end to that, reinforcing the chain-of-command and discipline.

* ''Literature/QiangJinJiu'': Shen Wei's disastrous battle-plan is what sets the plot in motion. When the Biansha Cavalry first invaded Shen Wei and his army could have fended them off. Instead Shen Wei decided to flee, leading to a massacre, a series of catastrophic defeats, and the Biansha Cavalry coming close to capturing Dazhou's capital. Shen Wei made such a mess of the war that he's suspected of collaborating with the enemy.

** Edmure Tully is a minor example, being defeated in almost every battle. The one time he manages to win one it ends up screwing up his side's longer term strategy (though granted he wasn't ''told'' of the longer-term strategy).

** Renly managed to be this without even fighting a battle. His huge but glacially slow moving army is useless when he leaves it and all his supplies behind to reinforce his home base after being outflanked, he gives command of the troops he did bring with him to a sixteen year old with no actual combat experience while ignoring the very competent Randyll Tarly, and his "plan" seems to be a cavalry charge, up hill, against a dug-in enemy led by the greatest general on the continent, with the sun in his forces' eyes. Luckily he's assassinated before he can get his entire force killed.
** From the backstory in ''Literature/FireAndBlood'', you have Aemond Targaryen, younger brother to [[TheUsurper King Aegon II]] who, during the "[[CivilWar Dance of Dragons]]" against their half-sister Rhaenyra, takes over their faction's war effort after his elder brother is left convalescent from battlefield injuries. Perceiving his uncle Daemon's occupation of Harrenhal as a personal challenge, Aemond ignores all advice and strips King's Landing of its defenders for an all-out attack on Harrenhal. When Aemond's army arrives at Harrenhal, they find it abandoned and start celebrating that Daemon was too cowardly to face them in battle...only to discover that Daemon had circled around and attacked the defenceless King's Landing from the land at the same time Rhaenyra attacked from the sea, meaning Aemond [[NiceJobFixingItVillain effectively handed the capital and the throne to his enemy]]. Rather than do something constructive like lead his army back to retake the capital, Aemond flies off on his dragon to lay waste to the surrounding countryside for the sole purpose of soothing his wounded pride; when his captains decide to march back to King's Lnading on their own initiative, [[TheDreaded without Aemond's dragon Vhagar]] to provide them aerial protection, they're ambushed by an army of Rhaenyra loyalists who [[LeaveNoSurvivors massacre them]].

** ''Literature/JediAcademyTrilogy'': Admiral Daala is [[InformedAbility described]] as a tactical and strategic prodigy, yet her attempts to strike back at the New Republic were easily foiled. It is debatable, whether this was caused by poor planning and disorganization, or by good guys having Suncrusher-grade plot armor when written by her creator, infamous K.J. Anderson. Her only lasting achievement was acknowledging her own failures and uniting the remaining Imperial forces under a single leader rather than a group of [[EnemyCivilWar feuding]] [[GloriousLeader warlords]], which in fairness did lead to the Imperial Remnant getting behind her co-conspirator, the very awesome [[Literature/TheThrawnTrilogy Pellaeon]], and she may [[RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap have gotten better by]] ''Literature/LegacyOfTheForce''. Other books offer an array of explanations for Daala's failures – it's mentioned that she excelled at ''infantry'' tactics, while her war against the New Republic was waged by fleet. ''Literature/DeathStar'' offers a {{retcon}} suggesting that she suffered brain damage at some point, while there's a long-standing rumor that she earned her rank at least partially by being Grand Moff Tarkin's lover (she ''was'' his mistress but denies the nepotism allegation to Pellaeon, and the last person to suggest the possibility in Tarkin's presence got ThrownOutTheAirlock with his spacesuit's comlink on so everyone could listen to how sorry he was as his orbit decayed). Another problem is that Daala worships Tarkin to a massive degree, resulting in her using his tactics despite the fact that the New Republic is already very experienced in dealing with those tactics as well as following his philosophy despite how it backfired on the Empire leading to its dissolution in the first place.

** Saruman of ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'', despite being an incredibly skilled wizard, takes TooCleverByHalf to extremes when it comes to strategy. At the start of the War of the Ring, he has an army of over ten thousand well-armed Uruk-Hai and wildmen and strong alliances with both Rohan and Mordor. Over the course of just half of ''The Two Towers'', he incites conflict with both of them (by killing Rohan's heir and trying to steal the Ring), knowingly pisses off the community of super-strong treemen right on his border, and then orders a massive assault on a fortified stronghold with his entire army. He also makes a number of tactical mistakes in said assault, such as bringing no siege engines besides blasting fire and ladders, not fortifying his rear (despite active fortifications being there) and staying behind in his tower to leave the battle to unnamed commanders, resulting in the army breaking in morale the moment they're attacked from behind.[[note]]Notably, this is contrasted by the Witch-King, who leads his army in the field, uses extensive siege equipment, and utilizes a well-mixed force that only falls due to a surprise attack on a harbor[[/note]] It's not for no reason that Gandalf claims he abandoned reason for madness.

** Jarod's sister Maiev proves little better in the long run during ''Literature/WorldOfWarcraftIllidan''. In her pursuit of [[AntiHero Illidan]], at first she's cautious enough to realize she can't recapture or kill Illidan with the small night elf force she has, so she opts to spend time journeying among the Outlands and building her own army. However, as [[DrivenToMadness she becomes more paranoid and obsessive]] in capturing him, when they finally come to blows with their armies, [[AttackAttackAttack she continues fighting]] even after it made more sense to retreat due to the entire thing being a trap, literally deciding that her life and the lives of those under her were ultimately expendable if it meant she could get a shot at Illidan. End result? Everyone else dies and she's captured by the very being she despises most, and it's all her fault. Even better, the only thing her hatred for Illidan was overshadowed by was her hatred for blood elves and mages, [[FantasticRacism which she refused to allowed to join her army]] despite being in desperate need of allies and them being a major boon for fighting Illidan.
* It's a near RunningGag in ''Literature/TheWheelOfTime'' series that High Lord Weiramon thinks a good cavalry charge will solve any problem, and if left to his own devices will get most of his forces killed while 'heroically' surviving himself and remaining enthusiastic for the next battle. Eventually Rand resorts to sending him on missions that he wants to fail. In the end of the series his antics prove a subversion: [[spoiler:he's actually [[TheMole a darkfriend]] and has been deliberately trying to sabotage Rand's military efforts]].
* The unnamed general at Yonkers in ''Literature/WorldWarZ'' bungles just about every aspect of the battle, having his soldiers dig out massive Cold War-stype static defenses in the middle of a road, vastly underestimating the scope of the zombie horde, and basically squandering his fairly impressive firepower while not actually providing them with enough ammo to wipe the enemy out. Even the soldiers on the ground can look around and see the massive swathes of cover or favorable terrain that they aren't making use of, presumably because simply having the brigade camp out on a roof and gun down the zombies at their leisure wouldn't be glamorous enough.

** Rather than brokering his supreme naval power in the west into the wealth and land his people need by supporting one of the powerful factions, Balon Greyjoy decides to pay the iron price and conquer lands he cannot hope to hold. Due to the Ironborn's inferior numbers, inferior training for fighting on land, and difficulty in supplying and reinforcing their troops the further inland they go, this ends with spectacular failure. Only the faction he invades spares him a second thought and even they do not divert forces from their main campaign. In Season 6, Yara calls him out on how all of his plans for the Ironborn have ended in ruin for them.
*** Balon's son Theon doubles down on this by sneakily capturing Winterfell with only a few men. However, as is pointed out to him, he is too far away from the coast for resupply and reinforcements and holding a city that gives the Greyjoys little of strategic value.

** Robb Stark makes a few errors that ends with him being short on manpower which logistically dooms him and his attempts to recruit more men fail spectacularly at the Twins. He also gives orders that lack vital information, like not to engage Gregor Clegane because he's setting a trap.
** Tyrion Lannister becomes this trope in Season 7, when his strategy for Daenerys' conquest of Westeros backfires catastrophically almost immediately leading to most of her allies and forces being captured or killed — which severely strains Daenerys' trust in him (but luckily not enough to sack him). To be fair it's not entirely his fault. He had been away from Westeros for nearly two years and the intel he based his strategy off of was outdated — and none of Daenerys' Westerosi allies felt like correcting him, even as he explained his strategy right in front of them. His scheme to broke a truce with [[GodSaveUsFromTheQueen Cersei]] by bringing a wight from the North to convince her of the threat the White Walkers represent led to one of Daenerys' dragons being killed and revived as a wight by the [[BigBad Night King]] (partially because of [[{{Determinator}} Jon Snow's attempt to kill the Night King]] delaying their escape), who proceeded to use it to breach the wall. To make matters worse, [[WeAreStrugglingTogether Cersei refuses to lend them any aid]] which rendered the whole plan useless and accelerated the White Walkers' invasion into Westeros. It's also muddled because the main things he failed to anticipate were absurd plot contrivances like "the Ironborn will somehow build a new fleet bigger than any in the world in a matter of months that can remain completely undetected until attacking and somehow operate in full strength in every theatre at once" which it's hard to blame him for.

** Same rank, different side, there is Colonel Crittendon. The man is LawfulStupid (on his first episode, the Heroes [[LockedOutOfTheLoop cut him off from their loop]] when he makes it clear that if he actually knew about their covert operations, ''he would give them up to the Nazis immediately'', because that is what the Geneva Convention is telling him to do), ''plain'' stupid (his "cunning plan" to covertly take out someone necessary to the German war effort involves a ''[[BigBulkyBomb massive]]'' [[StuffBlowingUp amount of explosives]]), a ''massive'' WalkingDisasterArea (he's a recurring character because every operation he's part of or plane he gets into is utterly obliterated, with only him the survivor), and TheNeidermeyer (pulling rank [and seniority] on Hogan every time he's on the Stalag and diverting necessary efforts into escape plans -- because it's a sworn duty of soldiers to try to escape, otherwise he'd be fine with waiting). The man can't even break out of jail -- in his first appearance he mentions having made ''eleven attempts'' over the course of less than a year and having been caught every time (so Hogan is pretty concerned about his bungling putting his men on worse Stalag facilities, shot, or their operations exposed).
* ''Series/KamenRiderRevice'': Hiromi Kadota is a genuinely a [[TheParagon noble]], [[KnightInShiningArmor heroic]] person, who attained the rank of commander thanks to his hard [[{{Workaholic}} work]]. Unfortunately, he is neither the [[TooDumbToFool dumbest]] nor the [[TheStrategist brightest]], has an inferiority complex mile wide and his good nature leaves him open to manipulation and rash decisions. Attempting to use the [[TransformationTrinket Revice]] [[ByThePowerOfGrayskull Driver]] despite warnings comes to bite him massively by causing a significant collateral damage and nearly getting him killed. Even worse for him, he was dishonored and [[SkewedPriorities demoted]].
* ''Series/KikaiSentaiZenkaiger'': Tozitend's field general Barashitara is a pure distillation of all reason why this trope can be such a pain. A cruel, petty, StupidEvil BadBoss, whose inability to see past his own self importance directly cost the invasion force at least two victories and caused an unknown number of other screw ups. It doesn't help he has a very little patience, carries a rocket launcher everywhere and both his superiors and underlings idulge him, be it voluntarily or not.

** Colonel Flagg. Not exactly a "villain," but a certainly an "antagonist" who always fails in his "intelligence" missions. His first appearance has him break his own arm so he can infiltrate the 4077th -- a hospital unit with no intelligence issues to be found. He mentions later on that even ''he'' doesn't know what the truth is (so nobody can get it out of him), because he's so paranoid that he keeps himself in a state of total confusion.
** General Steele attempts to be a frugal leader by ordering the hospital moved directly to the front lines (when they are already close enough to get shelled by both sides) to cut down on fuel consumption. He's also [[InsaneAdmiral bat-shit crazy]], and it comes to a head when he attempts to have Hawkeye court-martialed for air-lifting a patient to Seoul when he wanted to use that chopper to observe the unit's move, then starts singing and dancing in the middle of the trial. Notably, the other character Steele's actor played later in the show was the unit's CO Colonel Potter, who was very much ''not'' this trope.

** The franchise features more than a few Imperial generals who fit this description, officers who got their ranks through [[BlueBlood family connections]] and [[ArmchairMilitary have never been in actual combat]]. Their strategies tend to center around the fact that the Imperial Guard [[WeHaveReserves has a lot of men in it]], and if you [[ZergRush throw enough of them at the enemy you'll eventually win]]. Some generals even manage to screw ''that'' up. This is brought into even sharper relief by a few examples of pragmatic, tactically solid military leadership, for instance Lord General Zyvan of the ''Literature/CiaphasCain'' series, who once actively ''avoided'' picking a fight with the Tau because the crappy backwater planet they were on wasn't worth the effort, and is quite good at putting limited resources where they can do the most good.

*** FridgeLogic occurs when you realize that the only reason the PDF is worse, is because the Imperial Guard took all the competent commanders and soldiers, since it's common knowledge that sending a sub-par tithe of men or materials will get the Imperial Governor a [[StateSec visit from the Adeptes Arbites]].

** Ork Warbosses in general tend to be brutish thugs who gain their positions by being bigger and more violent than everyone else and rarely have tactical ''or'' strategic expertise beyond "yell and charge". Ironically, those of them who have some degree of tactical insight tend to fare worse as they are only used to [[TheWorfEffect highlight]] how mighty defenders of the Imperium are. The worst example is Ghazghkull Mag Uruk Thraka, the largest and smartest of all orks, prophet of Gork and Mork on the task to reunite the ork race. Somehow he is a galactic threat despite losing every major battle whenever Space Marines or a certain old man with silly hat and an oversized powerclaw are involved. Luckily, in 7th edition he shook off Black Templars pursuit and joined war in Octarius Sector. He seems to have far better luck fighting Tyranids.
*** And he's ''the smartest Warboss in Ork history''. The vast majority of Warbosses, if they do end up using tactical smarts, still follow the tried-and-true Ork tactic of [[WeHaveReserves throwing literally anything and everything]] they have at their opponent, ignoring casualties or sensible strategies. Warbosses are more of organizers rather than leaders. Moments of tactical/strategical acumen coming from Ork Warbosses are quite rare, and tend to result in massive casualties for the non-Ork because ''no-one'' expects it.

** Eldar Farseers. They have absolutely no understanding of military matters and guide their brethren relying only on future precognition. Whenever said prophecies are incorrect, interpreted incorrectly or simply based on chance[[note]]Farseer: Your chance of winning in 0.01%, mon'keigh. Space Marine: [[CurbStompBattle Never tell]] [[PlotArmor me the odds.]] [[/note]], things go south. Eldar are also known for ridiculously low win rates even in their own codex. Authors seemed to notice this and Eldar warhosts are more frequently led by Warlocks (seers that do have military training) or Autarchs (actual generals) with a Farseer filling an adviser role; while they do have an influence over an Eldar warhost, anyone with actual military experience can override them.
** Pretty much the only races to not have any standout examples are the Tau and the Tyranids (unless you count the Swarmlord, whose developed a stigma of "{{nerf}}ed into uselessness"). Good for the Tau because given the tiny size of their empire compared to everyone else, this is presumably the only reason why it's lasted so long. Bad for everyone ''other'' than the Tyranids because... [[HordeOfAlienLocusts well, Tyranids]].
*** The Tau's "Greater Good" philosophy is utterly alien to humans, because the Tau actually will fall back and stop contesting an objective if it becomes obvious the resources tied up could be put to better use elsewhere, because while every Tau is ready to sacrifice himself for the, well, Greater Good, Tau commanders look for strategies that involve minimal loss of life for their army (and in fact, glorious last stands are kind of looked down on among the Tau, because a commander who let the situation degrade so badly without evacuating clearly wasn't that much of a commander).

** Clan Ice Hellion is infamous for their tactics which can be summarized as AttackAttackAttack. Their commanders favor speed over everything else, as such they field light and medium mechs, against opponents who like fielding larger and more heavily armed Omnimechs. The worse example is Khan Raina Montose, who led the disastrous invasion on Clan Jade Falcon's occupation zone, which resulted in the former Clan's destruction.

* Senator Valtome, Duke of Culbert in ''VideoGame/FireEmblemRadiantDawn''. His first act as general of Tellius' largest and most powerful army? Sending troops to a horrible, fiery death in an attempt to ''search for the enemy's corpses''. Of course, this ''also'' makes him very practical, since he knows full-well the NeverFoundTheBody trope.

** General Duke, who has the misfortune of regularly being on the opposing side of whichever army you're playing through virtually the entire run of the game and its expansion. As a result, in game he wins precisely one battle, over Tarsonis, a planet whose defenses he already knows inside and out, in the only mission where he is on your side. Other then that, he gets spanked by Raynor's Raiders in their escape from the Dominion, he gets thrashed by the Zerg on Char, he gets a fleet vaporized by the Protoss under Tassadar, he gets ''another'' fleet wiped out by the UED, he gets thrashed by the UED once more on Korhal, and at last Kerrigan mercifully wipes him and his men out in a surprise attack after the UED have been driven off Korhal again. Suffice to say, his track record after joining forces with Mengsk was a bit spotty.
** Horace Warfield in ''VideoGame/StarCraftII'' doesn't ever seem to be able to accomplish anything except get shot down. Eventually, he joins the ground war and lets the player do the commanding, though in ''Starcraft II'' he's defended the Dominion against the zerg and has led no less than ''five'' counterattacks against them. In ''Heart of the Swarm'', however, Warfield fares reasonably well against the zerg Queen Zagara, leveraging the Dominion's [[StoneWall superior defensive technology]] and [[DeathFromAbove air and missile superiority]] for all they're worth. It's implied that he would eventually have won had [[PlayerCharacter Kerrigan]] not come to direct matters personally.

** Father Elijah, the former Elder of the Mojave chapter of the Brotherhood of Steel, ordered his chapter to hold a power plant against the NCR, despite being vastly outnumbered, simply for the sole purpose of trying to find a hidden superweapon of some sorts. His tactical incompetence is primarily because he was not trained as a Knight or Paladin (being a Scribe who was promoted for his technological genius) and because he was also a ControlFreak with no regard for human life.

* When he still had an army, Kratos from the ''VideoGame/GodOfWar'' series. His primary method of spreading the glory of Sparta is by slaughtering cities, and ended up nearly dying and losing most of that army because he faced off against a numerically superior foe in open terrain, which is especially ironic given the primary source of Spartan combat fame. How does he save the day? [[DealWithTheDevil Selling his soul to Ares]] and letting the actual god of war win the fight for him.
* Vice-Admiral Arthur Norbank in ''VideoGame/NexusTheJupiterIncident''. The guy is a smug jerk who constantly puts you down as an amateur despite your numerous victories against the [[LizardFolk Gorgs]], while he constantly experiences spectacular failures that result in many of experienced men dying. He constantly disregards intel gathered by agents (especially Ghosts) and then blames them when things turn sour. The guy's most famous victory against the Gorgs was mostly due to the element of surprise, as the Gorgs were expecting to fight the [[TechnicalPacifist Vardrags]] and have never even seen a human before. His officers call him "the Rhino" behind his back due to his complete reliance on direct frontal attacks and apparent ignorance of any other tactics. Despite losing his flagship many times, Norbank always seems to survive. Luckily, in one of a later missions, you have the option of ''not'' saving him from a derelict ship without being penalized in any way.

* The mobile game ''VideoGame/GreatLittleWarGame'' and its sequel ''Great Big War Game'' prominently feature [[TheGeneralissimo Generalissimo]], your superior. A typical GlorySeeker, as long as it's not his own life on the line. The campaign starts with him ordering you to invade a nearby nation because he wants a war. Naturally, you are the one who does all the commanding. Generalissimo's stupid decisions are the setup for our difficulties. Several times you have to keep Generalissimo alive. The sequel ups his status as this trope by him promoting an attractive woman to the rank of captain, even though it's clear she has no idea what command is. Several missions consist of surviving until you collect a certain amount of money, so that Generalissimo can buy a super-expensive gift for her (e.g. a diamond-studded bulletproof vest). Given the nature of the game, all of this is PlayedForLaughs.

** Indrick Boreale from the ''Soulstorm'' expansion. It's hinted at in the manual that he's actually a very, VERY skilled commander... At the level of a tactical squad or three, maybe even a small battle-force. When put in charge of the taking of a planet with seven different known enemy armies (two of which are members of the Imperium itself) and an eighth they presumably don't even know is around, ThePeterPrinciple rears its head and his tactics boil down to AttackAttackAttack. This works out extremely well when running the Space Marine campaign, but not so much in any other; his concept of "defense" is to use the Steel Rain deployment, namely keeping everyone in his army within the orbital ships and [[ItsRainingMen using drop pods to deploy directly into combat]]. Again, fantastic for offensive missions, but suicide when on the defensive, especially when he never deploys more than a few men or a vehicle or two at a time instead of [[CurbStompBattle dropping the entire Chapter on the enemy's heads at the start]]. He finally resorts to [[TakingYouWithMe ordering an orbital bombardment in the middle of his own base]] because you've broken through the miserably thin static defenses.

* ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerRedAlert'': Field Marshal Radik Gradenko, although an outstanding strategist and security expert, made a number of mistakes at the beginning of the European war which included the loss of much of the USSR's stockpiles of nerve gas, a critical element in Stalin's original plans. Stalin also blamed him for his failures in pacifying civilian resistance, and for Albert Einstein's escape. Being drinking buddies with Stalin is likely how he got, and is able to maintain, his position. The final straw is his sloppy security of the Iron Curtain project that allows the Allies to capture sensitive material, forcing you to eliminate the liability. [[spoiler: Nadia punishes him for the later with her signature poisoned tea.]]

** He's also this in the Allied Campaign. After you foil his schemes in Chicago he nukes the city in a show of might (read: petty spite) --and yes, his own forces were still in the city when he did that. This would turn into a strategic disaster for the Soviets as it would provoke the rest of the Allies into action. See, the Soviets had set up Missile Silos close to the border as a threat to keep the Europeans out of the war. The thing about nuclear threats, though, is they only work if the other guy still believes your rational enough not to pull the trigger. Thanks to Vladimir, the Europeans decieded that ''not'' getting involed was no longer an option. One Commando raid later, and the tide of the war started to turn.

* ''VideoGame/TransformersFallOfCybertron'' has this in the form of Starscream. After Megatron is pounded into slag by the mighty [[HumongousMecha Metroplex]], Starscream immediately assumes leadership of the Decepticons ([[TheStarscream like you expected anything else]]). From there, a plan to steal Energon from the Autobots goes horribly awry when he attacks the transport lugging the Energon with a force consisting solely of aircraft, when the majority of onboard weapons is ''anti-air batteries''. The Combaticons warn him about this, but he doesn't listen until it's too late.

** The Rat, formally known as Duc de Puce, is a prime example. One of the five main antagonists of the game, Duc de Puce fancies himself as an imperial conqueror, forging his mighty empire throughout the remnants of the player's father's kingdom. Born into nobility, he is extremely arrogant and extremely sure of himself and his troops, and is unafraid to use dirty tricks and scheming to win the day... Except he ''never'' wins the day. He's also an extremely cowardly, easily-panicked, grovelling wimp with no semblance of actual tactical or strategic skill. How he got accepted into the ranks of his much more intimidating and competent allies, and how his troops even obey his often-suicidal orders, is a complete mystery, which the best theory being "because The Snake sees a useful pawn in him". He's actually somewhat aware of this himself; after his first few attacks fail (one only because The Snake double crossed him) he decides to reinforce his own strongholds and call for aid from his "allies", only for them to refuse and intimidate him into wasting so many men in futile attacks that his own castle is left critically undermanned in his last stand.

* ''VideoGame/SaintsRowTheThird'': Commander Cyrus Temple is theoretically a good officer, but as head of STAG, a military organization dedicated to combatting gang violence he's an utter disaster. The Deckers infiltrate his bases and steal his tech and the Luchadores are able to go one-on-one with STAG and come close to beating them. The only reason that Morningstar doesn't do anything serious to STAG is because the Saints have already beaten Morningstar to a pulp by the time STAG shows up in Steelport. And the Saints utterly ''thrash'' him and his forces, to the point of being able to destroy STAG bases and even [[spoiler: a flying aircraft carrier]] while stealing access to STAG weapon tech.

** Later on in the first game, you also challenge the Yellow Comet [=CO=] Kanbei, who can be even worse, blustering forward hopped up on his own confidence. One mission is even named 'Kanbei's Error?' where he barely listens to his much more intelligent daughter's advice on capturing bases to produce units, and ends up starting with a completely useless base stuck on an island with no ports or beaches. Similar to Olaf above, he becomes much more competent by the second game when you play as him. While one mission still involves him charging forward into an ambush to stop the enemy from capturing some cities of little strategic value, he admits he knows it's an ambush, but that he cannot abandon his people, no matter how efficient it may be to ignore them.

* Admiral, later Emperor Pirk in ''WebAnimation/StarWreck''. Only his incredible luck and keen tactical eye explain why he ever advanced beyond Ensign on his military career.

* Captain, who leads the titular pirates of ''WebAnimation/LegoPirateMisadventures'' either botches everything on his first attempt, or will [[HopeSpot momentarily succeed]], only to have everything go bad again. This applies double if whatever he's attempting is in any way nautical, such as when he got lost at sea for two years because he failed to notice his compass was malfunctioning.

** As a warrior, Adam Taurus is a force to be reckoned with. As a leader, he's probably the worst thing that's ever happened to the White Fang; he's [[HairTriggerTemper hot-tempered]], [[EvilIsPetty spiteful and petty]], with his growing mental instability leading him to make increasingly stupid moves: [[spoiler: on top of pushing away valuable allies like Hazel out of petty pride and bigotry, the supremely boneheaded decision to put a hit out on Blake's parents to hurt her and subsequent failure of said assassination attempt, which [[NiceJobFixingItVillain Blake uses to rally all of Menagerie against him]], was just the tip of the iceberg. When cornered at Haven, [[TakingYouWithMe Adam attempts to blow himself]] [[BadBoss and his troops up]] with everyone else instead of risk trying to fight his way out, and after his troops are defeated, he [[KnowWhenToFoldEm runs away]] and abandons them to their fate.]] And to top it all, [[spoiler: when Adam returns to the White Fang base and is rightfully roasted by the remain troops over him deserting his men and his inability to get over Blake, Adam [[CantTakeCriticism flies into a rage and slaughters them all.]]]]
** Caroline Cordovin of the Atlas base in Argus. [[TheNapoleon As arrogant as she is tiny]], she believes she was stationed in Argus due to her "wit and tenacity", but in reality it was because her superiors in Atlas thought she was annoying and [[ReassignedToAntarctica wanted her away from their kingdom.]] She refuses to let the heroes through solely because they're not from Atlas, without bothering to listen to their reasons. When the Ruby Gang resorts to stealing a ship and Maria Calavera taunts her, Cordoven becomes so enraged that instead of following procedure and launching her own fighters, she takes a HumongousMecha meant for fighting giant Grimm and attacks the Gang personally- and ''loses'', despite having a clear technological advantage. What's more, her psychotic grandstanding ends up causing a spike in negativity from the locals which spurs a mass Grimm attack on the city.
** A {{play|ingWithATrope}}ed with case for James Ironwood. When he first appears, he is a genuine force of good, and even when his blind spots are taken advantage of, he still manages to get back up and fight for the sake of others. After the Fall of Beacon however, Ironwood begins burning the candle on both ends and slowly [[SanitySlippage loses his mind]]. He grows [[TheParanoiac paranoid]], {{shell shocked|Veteran}}, and {{control|Freak}}ling, and he becomes [[WhenAllYouHaveIsAHammer obsessed]] with [[AppealToForce outward displays of strength]]. Combined with his [[NeverMyFault refusal to admit error]], by Volume 7, he has become a shadow of the man he once was, now continually making poor decisions that only blow up in his face and hand the villains victories, {{just as|Planned}} Salem desires. [[spoiler:All of his actions in Volume 8 ultimately do nothing but impede the heroes' own efforts, as well as cause what little supporters he has remaining to turn on him. By the end, Atlas has fallen as a result of his own actions, he is all alone, and he dies forced to see that everything he did was AllForNothing.]]

* ''Literature/TheJenkinsverse'': Basically all aliens. Most species in the galaxy have no real understanding of how to fight at any scale. Since they come from paradisaical worlds, they're mostly non-violent herbivores, and while they are perfectly willing to go to war when the situation calls for it, they simply aren't very good. They have no understanding of simple tactics like flanking and deception, no understanding of higher weapon technology like missiles and combat drones, and have difficulty adapting quickly to sudden changes in the battlefield. No-one even uses explosives for combat in any form, just for mining. Humans, who come from a DeathWorld, have a ''much'' better understanding of war than anyone else. Even Jen Delaney, who was a bored IT tech on Earth, becomes famous for brilliant tactics that are little more than "keep your eyes open and watch each other's backs."

** The LetsPlay of ''Madden NFL 25'' turned Jack into this as he was able to toss ''seven whopping interceptions'' before [[RageQuit walking out in shame]]. Then Ryan took over and gave three more. [[HilariousInHindsight In cause you're wondering, they were playing the Denver Broncos against the Seattle Seahawks to celebrate Super Bowl XLVIII. And Geoff had proclaimed that the team that won would be the winner for the actual Super Bowl.]] What makes this hurt even more is that the usual General Failure is [[Creator/GavinFree Gavin]], who, being British, has no idea how American Football works and has to have the rest of Team Lads (Michael and Ray) handhold him through certain things until he figures it out... until the next year.
** Creator/GavinFree is this when it comes to the Let's Plays of ''Worms'' games. In Worms, every player gets 4 worms, where they take turns moving one worm at a time around the stage to either attack other players' worms or fortifying your own, and as such, mistakes tend to lead to your own worms getting hurt or killed. Gavin makes utterly spectacular mistakes and manages to hurt and kill his own worms with almost every single turn he has.
* ''WebVideo/TheGreatWar'' presents most of the top generals who directed UsefulNotes/WorldWarI as this, on all sides, most of whom were attempting to fight a war using battle tactics who were horribly outdated and plans that were shockingly optimistic. The show's favourite punching bags are Austro-Hungarian Commander Oscar Potiorek and Chief of Staff Conrad von Hötzendorf and Italian Chief of Staff Luigi Cardona, though they are not, by any stretch of the imagination, the only ones to get called out for this.

* ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'': Commander/Admiral Zhao [[ZigZaggingTrope Zig Zags]] this trope. At first sight, he seems utterly terrible at his job: He gets tricked into burning down his own river boats by Aang, Zuko manages to be hotter on Aangs' tail despite having significantly less resources, and his final plan for victory over the Water Tribe boils down to killing the Spirit in charge of the natural balance of the ocean, which would have ''disastrous'' long-term consequences for the entire world, Fire Nation included. Yet, for all his seeming incompetence, he ''does'' repeatedly prove to be a genuinely capable tactician: He correctly assesses that the [[EliteMooks Yuyan Archers']] talents are wasted guarding a local fortress and succesfully outsources them to capture Aang- the only time the Fire Nation ''ever'' gets their hands on Aang outside of the pilot, easily sees through a fairly clever gambit from Zuko to get him off his tail during a maritime chase, and his actual invasion of the Northern Water Tribe goes rather smoothly (the Ocean Spirit is deep into the Water Tribe inner sanctum, and Zhao succesfully forced himself all the way there. Zhao's problem isn't that he isn't smart or competent, buth rather that his ego and anger override his better judgement, making [[StrategyVersusTactics decisions that seem good in the short term but sabotage him in the long run.]]

** Zig-zagged by General Grievous. Although he is lauded as one of the best generals in the Separatist Alliance, this is mostly an InformedAbility as far as canon goes; in a general sense he's a fairly poor tactician, often becomes blinded by his own temper and impulsiveness, and pulls a ScrewThisImOuttaHere whenever things go marginally pear-shaped. His forays into fleet command are even less successful than his ground combat, most infamously when he fell into Anakin's trap (which crippled his flagship by hiding AT-TE walkers on an asteroid and having them fire on his ship's unshielded rear). However, Grievous does have [[HiddenDepths shades of tactical brilliance both in ground and fleet command]] via the fact that he predicted Obi-Wan's battle plan for rescuing Eeth Koth and set an ambush for Anakin, deliberately sacrificed the frigates in his fleet so the debris carrying the Trident drill ship components could fall into Kamino's oceans (enabling him to attack the cloning facilities undetected), and successfully ambushed and wiped out Obi-Wan's fleet (destroying four cruisers and two Star Destroyers for the loss of only one frigate and a couple ships damaged at rough numerical parity). His craftiness and ruthlessness has also allowed him to use underhanded tactics to great effect. Grievous managed (on Dooku's orders) to orchestrate and successfully act out a terrorist attack on Coruscant via blowing up the Senate District's power generator, causing a massive power failure all over the planet. This stops the peace negotiations and ensures the continuation of the Clone Wars.

** Serpentor, in the cartoons, is noted to be even worse at this. He can snatch defeat out of the jaws of victory. To date, he has launched an armed invasion of Washington DC, crowning himself the king of a "1000 year reign" but makes absolutely zero preparations to hold on to the advantage he gained by the element of surprise and is deposed ''in less than an hour'' because he never dreamed the "gift-giving" dignitaries would carry firearms in their briefcases, having to be rescued by Cobra Commander. He leads an armed attack on Joe Island when the command structure had been screwed over by his lieutenants, but is quickly handed his backside when the Joes manage to reassert the proper chain of command. He also never has any exit strategies in place for when things start going south, often refusing to retreat until massive losses force him to do so. In fact, Cobra has to seek refuge in Cobra-la during ''GI Joe: The Animated Movie'', because Serpentor had led one crushing defeat after another until Cobra had nothing left.