Swiss Jass: Commandos Edition is now available on the Google Play Store! This mobile card game app brings the classic Swiss card game Jass to your phone, featuring a unique Black Forest Commandos theme.

The book Docker and Kubernetes Security started with a battle scene between Gord, Rothütle, Jack, and a CVE monster. Those three characters we met again in Black Forest Shadow, with Evie joining them. The events of Black Forest Shadow are set in late 1865, happening over 3 days in the Black Forest. The Commandos are on a mission to stop CVE monsters from spreading chaos across the region.

Between those events and the Asgard Mission, the characters recruit new members: Mina (aka Wilhelmina), Agent Null, The Valkyrie, and Captain Ahab. The Commandos are now a team of 8, and they are summoned by Thor to go to Asgard and stop the CVE monsters from invading the realm of the gods. During this mission, two new Commandos join them: Artemisia and RuinTan.
Those events are depicted in the workshop series Docker Commandos as well as the upcoming comic book Black Forest Commandos: Asgard Mission.

Characters

The Black Forest Commandos are a team of 10 characters:

• Gord: The leader of the Commandos, a skilled strategist and fighter. She wears plate armor and wields a sword glowing blue with the power of the Okterakt, a time-manipulation device.
• Rothütle: The second-in-command, a master of strategy and tactics. He wears a red fedora and an orange T-shirt, showing that he's a member of the Red Team.
• Jack: The wildcard of the group, he started off helping the CVE monsters but later switched sides to join the Commandos. He was a miner in the Black Forest Shadow book, but in the Asgard Mission he's a cyborg soldier with advanced scouting abilities.
• Evie: The cowgirl and infiltrator of the Commandos. She wears a brown cowboy hat and a leather jacket, is a skilled sniper and scout.
• Mina: The pale undead assassin of the Commandos. She had a dispute with Hades, the god of the underworld, and was cursed to be alive. She can't eat, but gets energy from photosynthesis. She wears black tactical gear and has dark hair.
• Agent Null: The masked tactical soldier of the Commandos. No one knows anything about him, not even his name. He likes an MP5SD and wears a skull balaclava.
• The Valkyrie: The blonde guardian of the Commandos. She wears modern tactical armor and has tattooed arms. She's a fierce fighter and protector of the team.
• Captain Ahab: The bearded veteran of the Commandos. He's a naval captain and mostly chauffeurs the team around.
• Artemisia: An Amazonian warrior who joins the Commandos during the Asgard Mission. She has fought in the Battle of Salamis and was sent to Asgard after she was angered by Zeus for not siding with the Olympians during the battle.
• RuinTan: The hulking champion of the Commandos. He was honored with immortality by the prophet Zarathustra in 1500 BC, and bears the name RuinTan, literally meaning "bronze-bodied". He wears heavy golden armor and wields a massive sword.

Gameplay

Swiss Jass, also known as Schieber Jass, is a popular trick-taking card game in Switzerland. The game is played with a 36-card deck, which is a standard deck with the 2s, 3s, 4s, and 5s removed. The Swiss suits are:

• Bells (Schellen)
• Acorns (Eicheln)
• Roses (Rosen)
• Shields (Schilten)

In the Commandos Edition, you can use the Commandos suits:

• Shields
• Attestations
• Hardened
• Signatures

Each suit has 9 cards, ranked from highest to lowest as follows:

The game is played with four players in two fixed partnerships. The objective is to be the first team to reach 1000 points across multiple rounds. Each round consists of 9 tricks, and players must follow suit if they can. Players can always play a trump card.

At the beginning of each round, players can choose a trump suit or play Schieben to pass the decision to their partner. In the trump suit, Jack the Buur (the Jack) is the highest card, followed by Mina the Nell (the 9).

Conclusion

You can download Swiss Jass: Commandos Edition on the Google Play Store here. The app is free to play and has no ads or in-app purchases.

On the website, there is also the Asgard Arcade, a collection of mini-games inspired by the Commandos and the Asgard Mission. You can play an online version of Jass there as well, together with 3 other mini-games:

• Asgard Siege: Match the right commando to the right CVE monster to defend Asgard.
• Blackjack: A classic card game where you try to get as close to 21 points as possible without going over.
• Reference Deck: Simple card-comparison game to learn about each commando's abilities.