October 2026
Choose your pace
HERBSTNEBEL lets you choose 1-, 3- or 6-hour turns. The turn length is up to the player. Movement remains measured in minutes, with terrain, traffic, weather and darkness shaping the journey.
Kesselschlacht Studios
Operational wargames, built from the record.
We make computer wargames of the Second World War at battalion scale, where fuel, roads, darkness and the order of battle decide as much as firepower does.
The battlefield
The Ardennes. One mile at a time.
Winter terrain, roads and settlements form the setting for HERBSTNEBEL. Explore the development view near Bastogne, where the map and battalion counters bring the operational problem into focus.
In development
Herbstnebel
The Battle for the West Wall, 1944–45
The Ardennes offensive and the fighting before Aachen, from 16 December 1944 to 31 January 1945, on a map built at one statute mile per hex. Historical orders of battle and recorded positions guide the reconstruction.
How we build
Three rules we don't break
Sources first
Orders of battle come from Dupuy's Ardennes data base, Jung, Nafziger and the US Army's own daily records. Where sources disagree, we say so and grade the result.
Logistics decide
Fuel, supply and road capacity shape operational planning. A panzer division that outruns its fuel stops, and a single road can only carry so many columns.
Time is the terrain
Movement is measured in minutes, not abstract points. Night, mud, snow and traffic slow a column the way they slowed the real ones.
The studio
A historian's workshop
Kesselschlacht Studios was founded by Brian, a military historian who edits and publishes German primary documents from the US National Archives and the Bundesarchiv, including the series World War II German Logistics in Primary Documents.
The name is the German word for a battle of encirclement. It is what our games are about: the operational art of closing a pocket, and the supply lines that decide whether it holds.
Founded 2026 · First title: Herbstnebel · Further titles in planning: Cassino, Barbarossa
Design notes
From the design table
October 2026
Minutes, not movement points
A road march and a night advance through woodland are different problems. Counting movement in minutes makes terrain and visibility part of every route decision.
October 2026
Reserves that react
A reserve gives a commander options when the situation changes. The design explores how to represent local reactions, roadblocks and counterattacks without granting perfect knowledge of enemy movements.
Dispatches
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HERBSTNEBEL is in development. A release date has not been announced.