Nice start, and as NSA said - should be in discuss submissions area, but I haven\'t goose stepped in a long time so ...
You\'ll hear this over and over, but thin your paints. Everyone says like the consistency of milk, but to be honest, I\'ve never understood what the hell they meant by that. Just add a bit of water, or flow improver and do multiple coats.
Start with your middle range of your colors that you want to do, such as a middle ranged red. Paint it thoroughly and smoothly, then go in with a darker read and do a wash (really thinned down paint) to pick out your details. Then begin the process of bringing your highlights out.
Starting off, I would suggest a simple dry brushing so as to get used to the idea of shadows and highlights. Thin your paint, put some on the brush, and then remove a majority off of it on a paper towel - until it seems like you don\'t have much of anything on the brush. Then lightly brush it across your miniature where you want to highlight and you\'ll see that it brings out the highlights (don\'t push down on it - you just want the higher portions of the miniature to get your highlights).
That\'s a start, go from there. There are a TON of different ways to paint, with many painters swearing up and down to one style or another and I\'m sure you\'ll get quite a bit more technique critique here if you ask for it.
Word of caution though, if you ask, be prepared to listen, and have a thick skin. If you can do that, this place will help you immensly!
Oh, and get a matte finish to coate your miniatures to take the gloss off them.
Best of luck.