New Player Needs Halp

Hey guys,

So at some point mid-april my friend and I are going to pick up and share Operation: Icestorm, now that I've finally worn him down to the point of defeat over the course of a year of "LOOK AT HOW COOL THESE MODELS ARE" and "IT'S PRACTICALLY A REAL-TIME WARGAME" repeated over and over between Warmachine games. He's getting PanO, I'm getting Nomads, and neither of us know how to play anything beyond the Quickstart rules after a few proxy games.
So, I guess these are my questions:

1. How do I into hacking?
2. How do TAGs operate differently from troops?
3. After Operation: Icestorm and the units it suggests (Iguana/Tunguska Interventors) what kind of thing should I be looking to pick up next?

Looking forward to actually knowing what I'm talking about next month!

You should download the rules from the official infinity site. Then you should read a few days. Then try the first mission - name a alguacil and a fusilier a hacker, pay the points and the swc and try to hack something (the orc and the brigada for example).

TAGs are big HI (Heavy Infanterie) with (usually) three LPs (STR) and big bad maingun. It can wipe out a whole army and can be frustating especalliy for beginners. There are mulitiple counters against TAGs: Hackers, ADHL, AP Muni, Close Combat Specialst etc. Even the Jotum (biggest ARM Value) can fall though in partial cover he´s immum to normal rifle-fire. Mainly, they act like a normal trooper but need more space to operate and move.

Read the fluff (its in the book, you have to and you should buy) and use the new armybuilder tool from CB. Take a look at the sectorial armys (in the human sphere book), at the end of the profiles pdf. Try to figure out if you would like to go for a sectorial.

My suggestions for the Ice Storm Armys: The SWC Boxes of the main troopers, alguacils and fusiliers and after that some remotes.

as Archon said, first, try to play IS scenarios. Then when you are acquainted , try to read the rules until 60 page.(The rules are free in the infinity website)

as a personal advice, try to make a list with the army builder ( you can find in the official website) a list with the miniatures that you want to play, plot the pdf and you will see the weapons profiles and rules on the botton of the pdf file, this will be helpful to you and will be more easy and fast to learn the rules