Call 2003 the year of Russian "domination". Of the 15 Clash of Giants games played at the WBC, 11 were won by the Russian side. A closer look at the statistics show most of the games were still very close.

The teaching session went off at 6PM Tuesday, as per the previous year. Two gentlemen came to Cafe Jay to learn the game. Mark Dey and Daniel Hoffman then got to face each other in the mulligan round, and proceeded to engage in a bloody exchange with units eliminated at a frantic pace. Unfortunately, this is a real bad approach for the German player, and Daniel Hoffman advanced on a 4-0 result. Jeff Lange Sr. dispatched Graham Cosmas in his game as the Germans. In the battle of the Vince's, Meconi beat Alonso. At the conclusion of the game, Vince Meconi won, but realized he had played some rules incorrectly. He decided to discount his victory and join round 1 as a regular contestant. Vince Alonso earned the sportsmanship nomination, by not complaining about the result and showing his enthusiasm in rejoining the regular tournament the next day.

The final mulligan round match was the tightest and longest. Jeff Lange Jr.faced Jim Winslow. Unlike the regular rounds, there was no time crunch for the contestants. Even the invasion of Moose (thanks, Don) [consider it your reward for introducing us to Elchfest] into East Prussia did not break their concentration. In the end, Jeff's Russians beat Jim's Germans by a score of 5 to 2.

Wednesday morning saw some new faces added to the tournament. Most notably, Peter Reese, the well-known card driven player. Peter proved his ability in the hex-based forum also, winning as the Germans. Other winners included Jonathan and Matthew Miller, John Teixeira, and Vince Meconi who backed his mulligan victory after all.

Matthew Miller dropped from the tournament at this point. The second round was the most lopsided, with all three German players conceding by the end of Turn 9. The most painful loss was that of Jeff Lange Sr., who managed to roll in his first four attempts two 1's and two 2's for the movement of 8th Army.

Round 3 saw Jonathan Miller as the Russians beat Jeff Lange Jr., and Peter Reese's Germans defeated Vince Meconi. Jonathan would have his chance to avenge his loss in last year's final. Jonathan bid 3 to take the Russians. Although Peter didn't think highly of his chances early on due to some sluggishness on the part of his 8th Army, he fought back and the game tightened. Jonathan pressed his Russian armies, and when the dust settled, he had claimed three victory points, which, when adjusted for the bid resulted
in a 0-0 tie. However, a tie is considered a Russian Victory, so Jonathan Miller earned his well-deserved victory. Jeff Lange Jr. finished third.

Four games had no bid and the remaining eleven had bids for the Russians, ranging from 1 to 5, averaging 2. The 5-point bid was a Russian loss. However, Jonathan proved his dominance with the Russians winning with bids of 2, 3, and 4.