The January 2025 Monthly Debrief Video, which is the first episode in Season 5 of this series, saw us discussing the legacy of Rodger B. MacGowan from RBM Studio at his untimely death. If you hadn’t heard, Rodger passed on February 21, 2025. Rodger was an artist, game developer, art director, and magazine publisher who has been active in the board wargame industry since the 1970’s. Rodger is best known for his beautiful cover art for various classic wargames, as well as for publishing 2 very well known and thought of wargaming magazines in Fire & Movement and for C3i Magazine. Rodger was also one of the co-founding partners for GMT Games. He was a fantastic guy and will be missed greatly but he leaves a legacy that will not be forgotten with his artistic talents that have shaped and formed many of the wargamers in the hobby today.
If you didn’t know, recently there was a new art book published titled The Art of Rodger B. MacGowan, which is part autobiography, part chronicle of the historical board wargaming hobby, walking the reader through decades of Rodger’s covers and designs. Think of this as an art gallery you can visit anytime, showcasing artwork from his humble beginnings at SPI, Avalon Hill, and Fire & Movement through Hobby Japan, GMT Games, and C3i Magazine, and everything else in between. Rodger also gives behind the scenes color for many of the pieces, including the last minute deadlines, projects delayed or canceled only to be given new life, and the music and movies that inspired his work.
Also, as usual, we covered the games we played in January and talked about the games we plan to play in February.
We will remind you here that we are fortunate to be continuing our relationship with Noble Knight Games as the sponsor for our Monthly Debrief Video series. In case you don’t know, Noble Knight Games specializes in hard to find games but also carry all the new releases. But what makes them truly unique is that you can find some of the rarest games, long out of print games, hand made games, imported games from overseas, etc. Thanks to them for their sponsorship and we hope that you will consider them first when looking for the games we cover.
-Grant
The Players' Aid 
Love his work. He is an icon and legend. I did a video as well. It feels like I have grown up with his art. It all started with Squad leader when I was 14 years old. He sent me a copy to review and it had a great signature and note included. It will always be a cherished item of mine.
Thank you for your tribute. His work will be remembered for years to come.
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beautiful tribute to Rodger. my first recollection of Rodger’s artwork was for Triumph & Tragedy where I though it was beige and boring. however, I was wrong. many years later the vast majority of my game shelf are filled with Rodger’s work — a testament to the quality of the games and his artwork. Rodger will be sadly missed.
Ps. Grant, Twilight Struggle’s cover looks like a chess board – indicative of the Cold War.
pps Grant, Rotoscoping is an animation technique tracing real movement. The graphic design style I think you’re referring to is “Anamorphic”.
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