New PanO Player - Purchase and Expansion Recommendations

You cant go wrong with the Cutter... it will also teach you some good game mechanics like surprise shot, odd, cover...

 

I would actually suggest avoiding TAGs while you play games under 300pts, they tend to skew things in ways that don't produce good learning opportunities.

As for what you should look to pick up?

Most new players ignore the cheaper units which make up the backbone of your Infinity force, which also constrains their listbuilding in very negative ways. So I highly recommend picking up exactly those overlooked units early so you don't find yourself with this issue. With that in mind I suggest you buy:

Auxilia (great light infantry, with Auxbots as base defense and they can be backup specialists)

PanOceania Support Pack (cheap specialists with PalBots, which are useful for quick support, table coverage and mine clearance)

DroneBot Remote Box (you can make Fugazi, Pathfinder, Sierra and Clipper remotes from this box, any two... but the Fugazi for cheap orders and the Pathfinder for one of the best fast specialists in the faction and Sensor are both invaluable)

Mule Bots (again there is a cheap order option and the EVO Hacker is a very useful support option too)

Bulleteer Remotes (one of the best discount attack pieces in the entire game is the Bulleteer Spitfire, and the Shotgun option is a good cheap filler)

Acontecimento Regulars (you might have trouble getting these, as they are OOP, but you can proxy in any suitable "jungle fighter" looking models for the Minelayer/Sensor loadout which is the most valuable as cheap base defense and a super useful backup option)

As far as the big flashy stuff is concerned, it sells it'self. You will pick your favorites from the top end and pick them up without much prompting, but trust me when I say that you won't regret investing in the stuff that costs under 20 pts... it's going to make up most of most of your lists and you'll be happy to have it.

 

There's a ton of different ways to pick up the game. The most important is having someone locally who can take their time playing through small games, helping to highlight the mechanics.

As far as where to begin:

• If you play "Vanilla" (i.e. not a Sectorial) you'll have access to the widest range of TAGs. The challenge of course is that you're not likely to field more than 1 or 2 at once.
• The advantages to Sectorials are many. For one, they give some focus to how you collect your army. If you play Vanilla, being confronted by everything can feel pretty overwhelming. Collecting a Sectorial helps give you some theme and coherency for building your force. There are also gameplay advantages as well, which you'll learn about in the future, but suffice to say that Sectorials are pretty dang good at running TAGs, provided you like the narrow range of TAGs included in a Sectorial.
• If you want to start running a TAG right away, this is totally doable. It's just challenging. Buy a Tikbalang, pack as many 10-point troopers into your list as you can, and play your game. There are advantages and disadvantages here. Having one Rambo unit you focus all your effort into will help you learn basic mechanics like movement, spending orders, face-to-face rolls, etc. Once it starts dying or running into trouble, you'll have to rely on all the different units in your list, seeing opportunities to do damage with units besides your TAG. This is a pretty decent way to learn the game, though it'll be frustrating when your opponent takes out your TAG early and you realize the game's pretty much over.
• All the Sectorials can run their respective TAGs very well, and all the Sectorials are pretty healthy right now, so don't be afraid to pick what looks good to you. Based on what you mentioned, Varuna and Shock Army are both good. Some of Shock Army's miniatures are out of production, so they may be more challenging to collect, but their rules are very nice.
• If you stick to Vanilla, the advice mentioned above about good staple units to collect is very helpful. Since Vanilla can draw upon such a broad range of unit types, you can pick all the units that are best geared for supporting a TAG. Many of these units are cheap and defensive in nature... Their role is to defend the TAG (and themselves) with tools like antipersonnel mines and flamethrowers, keeping the enemy at bay, and letting the TAG do most of the heavy work. This is a pretty fundamental approach for playing any TAG list.

As for your friend's opinions about PanOceania... Well, you found your way here and you're asking about starting the faction, so clearly your judgement is already very good

 

It sounds like you should consider starting with Vanilla lists that use the Father Knight and Seraph, then try a Sectorial once you know the game mechanics.

Varuna is pretty different from Vanilla, mostly because link teams are such a huge component of playing any Sectorial (Vanilla cannot use full link teams... In exchange, they get access to a wider variety of units.) If you like Varuna, it's pretty important to love their 1-Wound troopers, because those are the most important part of any Varuna list. Varuna might have 1 or 2 Heavy Infantry, and maybe a TAG, but that's all.

VIRD does make very good use of its TAGs though. Both the Cutter and the Squalo are excellent.