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I'm brand new to the hobby and bought my first models, the Guardsmen Start Collecting. Thought I'd kill some time tonight by clipping a few parts and removing the mold lines. After removing the lines on the first two sets of legs, I realized I was scraping my knife blade horizontally to the model instead of vertically, which resulted in some gouging. It's a lot more noticeable on the bottom pair than the top. When I go to paint the legs, will the paint cover the gouging, or are they screwed up?

Hard to tell from the photo but seems ok. As long as you havent accidentaly cut chunks out of the plastics it should be fine.

Id use some fine grade sanding paper and files to smooth out any areas that might have gotten a bit roughed up by mold line removal process.

It is a bit hard to tell, but it doesn't look too bad. As Argive says, some delicate file work should help fix it up.

And chances are (even if they are damaged) that you won't notice it when it's painted up and at arms length on the battlefield.

You can do alot with paint!
If initial dry brushing wont look good, you can always apply some highlights by hand.

Should be fine

Do you have any plastic putty?

I have Vallejo plastic putty in a tube. I routinely use it with gaps and mold lines in plastic miniatures.

When they're on a table with a hundred of their buddies, I guarantee you won't notice

Crispy78 wrote:
When they're on a table with a hundred of their buddies, I guarantee you won't notice

Agreed - for munchkins / minions, I wouldn't be too concerned. Also, as you're new to painting, don't bother with the eyes on your rank & file. A dark wash to the eye area looks just fine.
Note that as you're doing guardsmen, you will generally have a lot of rank & file minis to paint but speed-painting (doing 10 at a time), really works well as you soon learn where the tricky bits & the easier bits to paint are & you'll learn quickly.