Qin it to win it and take it on the Qin

 The Qin is a very appealing army to me, mostly because of their Polearm Devastating Charger characteristics, and their somewhat peculiar optional rule of throwing their armour off, and thus gaining the Melee Expert and Fleet of Foot characteristics. They do however also become unprotected.

The first version has 3 9s of 3 Average Tribal Flexible Polearms, in front of 6 Tribal Loose Average Unprotected Experienced Crossbows. 9s are a sort of necessity because the Polearm doesn't work against Infantry post impact, being only in 1 rank, and of course, it gives the units extra resilience, as well as more firepower. These units should try and avoid combat as long as possible, and let opponents come to them.

4 6s of Polearm Devastating Charger units, 2 of which are Superior. These units are probably the ones who will beat most opponents frontally. In 6s they are slightly vulnerable, but given that when fielding these units in 6s I get the maximum amount of Superiors in the army, this is the best configuration.

1 6 of Experienced Crossbowmen and 1 6 of Skilled Crossbowmen, all Formed Loose Protected. These are even stronger than the 3 9s of mixed Polearm Crossbow units. I think 15 base widths of Crossbowmen is nasty, especially if 3 files are Skilled. Charging these units gives them at least a White + dice, through their ability of negating cover.

2 4s of Average Chariots with Short Spear, Melee Expert, Experienced Crossbow, Shoot and Charge, Devastating Chargers. These are highly vulnerable and should probably only be committed if the front line starts to waver. I would not commit these against a shooting army unless they're badly weakened, or I spot opportunities to attack a flank.

The generals are a Competent CinC, 2 Talented Subs, and a Competent Sub. I reckon this gives enough cards for the main Qin Infantry to get into combat, even if they're shot to pieces a lot through using their special rule. I'd probably have a Talented general with the 4 Polearm Devastating Charger units and another with the 3 9s and possibly the 6 of Skilled Crossbowmen. Competent Sub with the Chariots and Experienced Protected Crossbowmen. I will probably float the CinC to make sure each command gets enough cards all the time.

Finally, there is an average unfortified camp.

Important question, would I use the optional rule with this army? Giving this some thought, I would. The reason why is that there are enough Shooters in the army to negate enemy shooting, theoretically, and if I'm able to get my shooters to engage opposing shooters, the Infantry will be able to charge in with little problem.

The next version of Qin is probably one that has enough shooting, but I'd be more circumspect about using the optional rule.

This has 8 units of Polearm Devastating Chargers, 4 8s of Tribal Averages, 2 6s of Formed Averages and 2 6s of Formed Superiors. Imagine the satisfaction you could get if you shove 16 base widths of toughness down your opponent's throat.

1 6 of Experienced Average Protected Crossbowmen and 1 6 of Skilled Crossbowmen. Then 3 6s of Poor Crossbowmen, 1 Unskilled and 2 Experienced. The shooting quality is weakened compared to the first version of the Qin that I described. Also the 3 poor units won't want to get shot at. They are there more to bulk the army such that it has a high break point of 7.

The generals are a Talented CinC and a Talented Sub, each commanding 4 lots of Polearm Devastating Chargers, a Competent Sub with the Protected Crossbowmen and an unprotected Experienced Crossbowmen. The other 2 units will be commanded by a Mediocre Sub. There is also a Poor Unfortified camp

As an experiment, I would probably try the optional rule, but only to achieve the effect of getting 16 base widths of Polearm Devastating Chargers into combat.

Another very important question, would I use either of these lists in an open competition? Honestly, I'm more likely to use the first Qin list in an open competition, given the amount of effective Shooters and the resilience of the 9s. Polearm negating Mounted Devastating Charge gives them a reasonable chance against most armies with Knights in them, and my sturdy infantry can beat up the enemy Infantry, due to being roughly 1 or 2 factors up on average.

Where the armies will fall down is against well used horse archer types and probably foot Knights in a prolonged matchup that are both outside rough terrain.

The plan for both armies is flood the table with as much rough terrain as possible, maybe a bit less than the maximum for the Chariot version. Both armies have a reasonable amount of good shooting but I'd be more cautious with the Poor Shooters in the 2nd Qin army.