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So I've only done cursory research of Infinity and I have to say that is seems like a great co-project to my Dark Eldar Kill Team, I love the models and I enjoy the aesthetic and fluff behind the Haqqislam. Especially the Hassassin and the Sekban! i love the ideas of mercenaries and naval armsmen, of intrigue and assassins, all for a noble goal (and a hefty paycheck). So I know they have starter boxes, but I would love for someone to point me in the right direction of how to start a proper force to build, paint, and who knows maybe find a group for in the local area. I would really like to include the Sekban and perhaps a Viral Sniper, if at all possible.

Apologies, since I assume that similar lines have been placed across this forum countless times.

EDIT:

And the Azra'il...
And the Asawira.

Like I said, I really dig this faction to the point that unlike 40k where I had countless issues deciding on a faction, I know exactly what I want this time around.

Okay, first, and you may or may not already know that, but it's standard for people trying to start the game, nearly as traditional as saying "don't start with a TAG or you will never git gud!".

Infinity has Factions, thing is those Factions have subfactions called Sectorials, those Sectorials lose acces to some troops from the full factions but can deploy bigger quantities of the troops they are left with and sometimes gain access to Mercenaries and/or loaned units, they also can use Fireteams, also called Link Teams, which treat up to five models as a pseudo squad in which they get some bonuses (but have some mobility restrictions and some of them are expensive).

In this case you like Sekbans, which are part of the Qapu Kalqi (QK), the Sultan's naval forces, and the Azra'il, which are also part of the Qapu Kalqi, the Hassassin troops on the other hand are part of the Hassassin Bahram Sectorial (HB for short), along with the Asawira Regiment, so if you want to have both things Vanilla is the way to go (althought you could collect both Sectorials, but let's say you want Vanilla).

You can look into the Vanilla Haqqislam Starter Pack, which includes "Solid Snake" Ghulam, "Professional Looking Guy" Ghulam and "Starter Set Girl" Ghulam, good line troops which, thanks to the new Edition (you alreeady know about the new edition, right? of not ask away) are quite good at guarding corners (their Rifle+Light Shotguns are quite versatile, and Shotguns have a great bonus at close range) and at healing (they heal on 17s), and provide orders for a good price (not the best but at least they went to school instead of playing shooters, working in the air conducts or watching Martial Arts movies), a Naffatun with Rifle+Light Flamethrower and Grenades, Flamethrowers are rather good but not as much as in the last edition, still, fire ammo is still powerful and Grenades are a good, albeit situational tool, you also have a Janissaire with AP Rifle+Light Shotgun, he is a solid Vanilla Heavy Infantry, althought pretty vanilla, can also be a Doctor (a combat Doc as some calls them, a guy who will be in the frontline anyway so you won't feel like wasting orders for trying to save the life of some guy who fell upfield) and can get some protection against hackers for a price, lastly you have the Hunzakut, he is a skirmisher with rather good options like a Grenade Launcher and Deployable Repeaters (for hackers), a Sniper Rifle profile and a Forward Observer option with Rifle+Light Shotgun, wihch is rather good for a Skirmisher that can start deployed on any point of your half of the table.

This should give you a core to build around and to play, on the other hand you may want something different, or simply a group of miniatures you can play from time to time so let's look at waht you specifically asked

1- On the Sekban: They have rather nice miniatures, in last edition they had some problems because of the large numbre of great troops in their point range and the shame of being Medium Infantry, on one side the shame is not only not gone but greater because only MI and a few of the heavier HIs are slower than usual, on the good side the changes on point costs, some weapons and some general rules have given them a new life, they aren't the best troop of the game but they seem solid to me, they carry a pretty varied kit, namely 360 visors, which interact nicely with the Suppression Fire mechanics, and their choice of pistols is situational, as is their integrated Shrapnel Dispersers (Chain Colts).

2- On the Azra'il: They are going to be resculpted (althought there are talks about it being little more than a re-escalation) due to some profile changes done in the new edition, they went up in Armor and got a bit of an upgrade in the firepower section at the cost of losing one of their three profiles, but look good to me.

3- On the Hassassins: In general they provide some good tools for Vanilla, elite LIs (Muyibs and the new Govads), powerful snipers (Lasiqs with Viral Rifles/Sniper Rifles), the dreaded Impersonators (Fidays and Hussein Al-Djabel) and great Hackers and Hacker support (Barids).

4- On the Asawira: Elite HI, they have above average Close Combat skills (just don't try to kill three CC specialists at the same time, their fluff is a bit over exagerated, aim for eaier preys) and the best shooting skills of the Faction, on par with the Maghariba Guard, they took a bit of a hit in the changes to their Regeneration rule but also went down in price, they are no longer super great but are a good elite HI, and they have awesome miniatures.

now, on my suggestions, don't take them too seriously because
1- metas are different
2- I'm Spanish, metas are really different
3- Althought I have been playing Infnity for a bit Haqqislam is a faction I don't have great knoweledge of so most of what I say is armchair general talk and extrapolations from different units form other factions.

Buy what you like, all units are good.

Now, this is not an absolute, rule look at this threadon basic listbuilding concepts: http://infinitytheforums.com/forum/index.php?/topic/12350-list-building-in-infinity-or-why-you-see-banners-proclaiming-it%E2%80%99s-not-your-list/

and maybe play a bit with one of the nearly fully updated army builders http://anyplace.it/ia3/ia.html

Oh, and wait for the rest of the Infinity Dakka community to post on this topic, iIrc loki and some other people play Haqqislam so they may be able to give you more advice.

What do you mean by cursory research? Do read the rules and have a look at the new updated army lists, all here http://www.infinitythegame.com/archive.php

Sounds like you want a vanilla force, rather than a sectorial. The Haqq starter box is a very good start for you. Go ahead and get the Lasiq sniper too, since you like it. And an asawira, preferably the one with the spitfire. I'd also recommend getting the support box with the doctor and engineer and their helper bots. This will give you ten units. Helper bots are not an independent unit. Remember that you can always proxy for a bit, while you ponder your next purchases. Proxying is perfectly acceptable under most circumstances. It helps to play a few games before buying too much, because you really need to learn what your play style is and what units will fit it.

I would hold off on the Azra'il, since it looks like the mini is in for a re-sculpt soon.

To find a local group? Start here on Dakka, http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/442911.page I would consider the Warcor option first.

All great advice, you two. Thanks for the advice!

As for my cursory research, I mainly looked into all of the factions for fluff. Then I looked at the models and read the general descriptions of each faction, as well as the general number of models that are included in a game which is another draw since I detest building gigantalantic amounts of models. Which is why I'm starting at Killing Team as well. But I suppose my next question would be..

I notice you can only have one Lieutenant, but I'm having difficulty identifying which units are these leaders. Which of the models are Lieutenants for the Haqqislam?

Lieutenants are just a profile option. Look through the army lists, and you'll notice a bunch of profiles have (Lieutenant) beside them. That means they're eligible to be taken as your Lieutenant. For Haqqislam, take Ghulam as an example. There's Rifle+Light Shotgun, Heavy Machine Gun and Missile Launcher profiles, and also repeat profiles for them that say (Lieutenant). So you can choose to take one as your Lieutenant or just as a normal model.

Lieutenants aren't like other games where they are super spiffy units with extra abilities and can wade into combat with grunts and kill them. Generally, a Lieutenant is the same as the normal non-Lieutenant profile, but gets an extra order it can use itself.

This creates a bit of a dilemma. You can take a Lieutenant that isn't special, like a Ghulam, and stick him safe at the back of the board, but his personal order will go to waste. Your can choose someone aggressive, like Tarik Mansuri or Kasym Beg, who will get more mileage out of his personal order ususally for shooting enemies. But if he dies, which he will if he's being aggressive, then you are in Loss of Lieutenant for the next turn.

Choosing your Lieutenant is very much a risk/reward gamble.

Ok Haqqislam is my faction so I'll chime in a bit. You have a rundown on some of our choices. If you're really interested in running a QK force I'd buy the QK starter & sekban box. Then add in the aforementioned vanilla Haqq starter & probably a hassassin starter to give you options overall for all 3 possible armies. From there it's a matter of playing & learning what you like & don't like & your playstyle. Our ghulam are decent for their price but we can easily be outnumbered because we lack reliable dirty cheap infantry. What we do best is use our specialists & above average willpower to carry out the mission & our plentiful docs to keep our troops alive while they're doing just that. I have enough models I can run any of the 3 Haqq armies & even bought scarface & Cordelia to supplement my QK ranks (not buying a maghariba guard till the new sculpt is released!). Also in the face of adversity never doubt a determined little daylami with a panzerfaust. :-)