Limiting htaccess failure attempts

In helping people make their site better, I came across a web-based script that creates .htaccess & .htpasswd files. When using Apache Authentication (and to help make it easier for people not familiar with this feature), it dawned on me that there must be a way to limit the number of failed attempts.

In followng the K.I.S.S. principle, I had thought (hoped) it would be in the htaccess file, somewhere within:

< Limit GET POST >
require
< /Limit >

(spacing is for vBulletin)

but I cannot seem to find any documentation on it. Spent time browsing and although HARD_SERVER_LIMIT & kill_conditions (under Apache API Contstants) sound promising, I am not familiar enough to understand their usage.

Can anyone help shed some light on this?