Weekly Hotness: Week of August 31, 2026

Last week’s ecological strategy wave just got completely wiped out. Whisperwood, Wildscape, The Crew: Journey to the Ends of the Earth - all gone. The chart swings hard this week, and the new direction is about as far from forest restoration as you can get.

Gunsen: The Battle for Toshi Ranbo goes straight in at #1, and it is doing something entirely different from everything else that occupied this space recently. This is a Legend of the Five Rings game - clan warfare in Rokugan, where the Crab, Crane, Dragon, Lion, Phoenix, Scorpion, and Unicorn Great Clans clash for control of the legendary fortress. Matthew O’Malley is the designer, which matters more than it might seem at first: the man behind Welcome To… and Between Two Castles of Mad King Ludwig knows how to build accessible weight into competitive structures without letting the crunch collapse into a slog. The stats are consistent with early serious-fan enthusiasm: a 7.54 rating from 102 votes, weight of 3.0, 2 to 6 players, 90 minutes. That 2-to-6 range is genuinely useful - it suggests a game that doesn’t demand a specific headcount to function. Hex grid movement, open drafting, dice, and variable clan powers point to a design that wants tactical depth without spiralling into the five-hour range. L5R fans have been hungry for something worthwhile in the Rokugan universe since the card game era wound down. If the early noise is accurate, Gunsen might actually be it.

Right behind it at #2, Dewan is the chart entry with the most intriguing backstory this week. It is not a new game. It has 2,090 ratings and sits at rank 1,763 - that is a healthy, established position built up by actual play, not preview buzz. A 7.38 average from that sample means real communities played this thoroughly and liked it. So what triggered the Hotness spike? Something specific happened: a popular creator picked it up, a community ran an event around it, or a wave of fresh reviews landed simultaneously. Without a clear external trigger visible from here, the most honest answer is: the algorithm noticed something. The game itself is a fast-paced area-placement design for 2 to 4 players, 40 minutes, weight 2.11. Collect terrain cards, place camps, satisfy your story tiles. That is a genuinely accessible entry point by current competitive euro standards, and the established rating validates that the design delivers on what it promises.

Then there is Magical Athlete at #3, which has now become an event of its own. It rose nine places last week to reach #9. This week it climbs another six to #3. A weight-1.18 chaotic race game is the third-hottest title on BGG. With 7,365 ratings and a 7.80 average, this is not a game the algorithm stumbled onto - it has deep community roots and a rank of 335. What the Hotness is capturing right now is that the hobby is in a collective “tell everyone about this” mood with it. That matters. Occasionally the Hotness reveals what is actually getting to tables, not just what is generating preview click-throughs.

Mid-chart movement worth noting: The Lord of the Rings: Fate of the Fellowship climbs seven places from #13 to #6 after dropping sharply last week. Licensed games with passionate core audiences do this - they cycle through enthusiasm peaks depending on what the community happens to be discussing in a given week. The floor never disappears, so rebounds like this are expected. Avalon: The Riven Veil rises three to #4 with similar quiet momentum. Drillers holds at #5. Wingspan Pocket slips one to #7, which counts as stable.

Two new entries in the middle of the chart are doing genuinely interesting things. Entropy arrives at #9 with a 3.625 weight, a sci-fi premise about humanity learning to shape solar systems, and a rondel mechanism at its core. The 1-to-4-player count and 150-minute play time tell you exactly what kind of evening you are booking. The 352 ratings and 7.73 average mean this one has already found its people - these are serious heavy-euro players who sat through a two-and-a-half-hour session and came back to rate it positively. Already at rank 5,268 with clear upward trajectory. And at #12, Horror on the Orient Express: The Board Game takes a very different angle: cooperative Call of Cthulhu horror on a luxury 1920s train, combining deck-building, deduction, and a modular board. The 8.13 from 215 votes is its most impressive number - that is a meaningful sample from people who played a 120-minute co-op and felt strongly enough to score it near the top of the scale.

A brief word on the bottom of the chart because #20 deserves more than a footnote. The Elder Scrolls: Betrayal of the Second Era slots in at #20 with a 8.93 average from 4,200 votes and an overall BGG rank of 149. Weight 4.08. Up to four players, up to four hours. Massive cooperative adventure in Tamriel. A game that sits at rank 149 does not need Hotness validation, but its appearance here signals a fresh wave of attention - perhaps campaign expansions, new community content, or a price-drop shifting copies. Whatever the cause, it is here, and it is a reminder that the bottom of the Hotness can sometimes contain the most interesting thing on the list.

The biggest correction: Dino Racer collapses from #4 to #14. New entries that arrive with initial burst momentum but limited community depth tend to pull back fast when the chart refreshes. Meanwhile, Ark Nova holds at #13 - comparison gravity is eternal.

My read for next week: Gunsen either consolidates if more people have it in hand, or the L5R faithful move on and it drifts. Dewan is the genuine wildcard - an established game on the Hotness almost always has a specific cause, and if that cause is ongoing, it could stay. The Elder Scrolls at #20 could easily rise as more reviews arrive.

Gunsen, Entropy, or Horror on the Orient Express?

This Week’s Top 20

Dropped off: Whisperwood, Wildscape, The Crew: Journey to the Ends of the Earth, Rebels Against Rebellion, Hell of a Deal, Forest Shuffle: Smoky Mountains, Vantage

Three new entries this week deserve direct comparison: Gunsen: The Battle for Toshi Ranbo, Entropy, and Horror on the Orient Express: The Board Game. They land in completely different parts of the hobby landscape, and which one fits your shelf says something specific about what your group actually wants from a session.

Start with Gunsen: The Battle for Toshi Ranbo if “clan warfare on a hex grid with open drafting and asymmetric powers” describes a Friday night your group would actively look forward to. Six players, 90 minutes, and a 3.0 weight put it right in the zone where competitive games feel genuinely meaty without becoming a commitment that requires advance scheduling. The L5R universe has always had devoted fans, and Matthew O’Malley’s design track record - games that earn their play time rather than simply filling it - gives this more credibility than the average licensed title. For groups that prefer competitive games where the table is actively fighting each other rather than optimising in parallel on separate tracks, this is the most compelling pick of the three.

The honest caveat: 102 votes is a small sample, and faction games tend to attract the most passionate fans first, which inflates early scores. L5R also polarises along familiar lines - universe fans are in immediately, everyone else needs a stronger pull than the setting. If your group has zero connection to Rokugan and does not inherently enjoy asymmetric faction conflict, wait another month for broader reviews before committing.

Entropy is for the player who sees “learn to shape the very workings of the universe” in a description and feels a specific kind of pull. It is a weight-3.6 euro with a rondel at its core, which means planning matters in a particular way here - rondels reward thinking two steps ahead and punish the impulse to grab what looks good right now. Multi-use cards add a second layer of decision tension: the card that solves your immediate problem might be the one you needed next round, and navigating that is where these games find their depth. The 352 ratings and 7.73 average represent people who invested 150 minutes and came back enthusiastic, which is a meaningful quality signal.

The question worth asking before buying Entropy: does your shelf already have SETI: Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence? SETI is currently sitting at #10 this week, persistent as ever, because it has found its own deep audience. Both are science-flavoured heavy euros. Both serve similar evenings. Most groups can only justify one of them being the active table game at any given time. If SETI is already working for you, Entropy is a lateral move. If SETI never clicked, or you want a different mechanical approach to the same broad genre, Entropy might be the one.

Horror on the Orient Express: The Board Game is doing something different from both. Cooperative, narrative, Call of Cthulhu horror, 1920s luxury train, deck-building combined with deduction on a modular board. The 8.13 rating from 215 votes is the number that stands out most - that is early enthusiasm backed by enough actual play sessions to be credible rather than just pre-release speculation. Cthulhu adaptations have a specific quality bar to clear: does the horror atmosphere land at the table, and does scenario variety give the game staying power beyond the first campaign? The ratings suggest yes to both, which is exactly what you need to hear before buying into a 120-minute co-op.

The sensible concern is table fit. Cooperative adventure games with narrative weight demand that everyone present cares about the fiction. If your group has players who check out during story-heavy sequences, or who disengage when the outcome feels like it is not in their control, horror co-ops are the wrong genre to push on them. For the right group - people who enjoy immersive co-ops, find Cthulhu lore genuinely interesting, and can commit to the atmosphere - this looks like a good call. The Orient Express setting is also doing real aesthetic work. It narrows the scope in a way that makes the horror feel specific rather than generic, which is harder to achieve than it sounds.

Quick version for buyers comparing all three:

Choose Gunsen: The Battle for Toshi Ranbo if your group wants competitive clan conflict with real player interaction, and the L5R universe gives at least one of you a reason to care. The Matthew O’Malley design pedigree is the strongest argument for the sceptics.

Choose Entropy if your group runs toward heavier euros with rondel mechanisms and wants a proper sci-fi engine to chew on over a long evening. Audit your shelf for SETI overlap first.

Choose Horror on the Orient Express: The Board Game if your group loves cooperative horror adventure, can buy into the 1920s Cthulhu atmosphere, and wants scenario variety that makes repeat plays worth having. The 8.13 early rating is genuinely impressive.

What this week’s chart actually shows is range. Clan warfare, hard sci-fi, and Cthulhu horror can all land on the same Hotness list in the same week because the hobby accommodates all of it, and there is real appetite for each. Last week was monoculture. This week is not. That is the more interesting version of the Hotness.