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So, i'm new to 40k/painting models and i'm slowly painting small DND minis as practice. I plan on fielding a 2k point custodes squad, mainly for gaks n giggles. I LOVE their models, but with my lacking painting skills I feel I will do them a disservice, so here i am. I found a few YT tutorials how to paint them, but all of them use Airbrushes, which I do not have access to and feel I shouldn't drop 200+ bucks into one when I'm just a newbie. So, I'm going to use brushes and spray cans the best I can. Anyways here's my questions:

1. I use a Army Painter - Black Primer for most of minis atm. Would it be better to get a gold primer and some sort of gloss, then layer it with gold paints? Or Prime them with black then layer with gold?
2. How good is the GW brush set for detailing?
3. Is it worth it to invest in a magnifying glass set-up?
4. If I don't want them to be extra shiny gold, how do I tone it down a bit or "dull" the gold?
5. What exactly does it mean to "wash" the mini? (not in the use soap to clean it kind of wash)
6. Any tips or tricks for a new painter?

Any help is much appreciated!

Welcome to the hobby. I too started with an elite army back in the day (Grey Knights in 3rd edition) to only have to paint a small force. Now I have about 15 armies across 40k and Fantasy.

1. Just get the GW gold spray if you like the color, it's expensive but it'll save time and it's basically the same color as the gold from the pot, the same applies to Leadbelcher.

2. Expensive. Amazon has decent brush sets like these (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01M7UFLP5/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1) but GW brushes are okay, they're just sold at premium prices like their $8 water pot.

3. No, unless you have bad eyes. I got one and it's buried in the basement somewhere.

4. Try a sepia, Reikland fleshshade, or agarax earthshade wash then add a highlight to that . Fleshshade makes a redder gold, earthshade makes a darker, dingier gold.

5. Using "washes" to add depth to the recesses. It's very low pigmented paint that runs into cracks, just don't go overboard with it. I like to thin the black wash with a little water or medium or it tends to clump around the bottom of edges. You can get the blue or green shades to actually tint silver armor and it makes a nice effect if you do it evenly.

6a. Watch the Warhammer TV painting videos on YouTube, Duncan breaks down painting into bite-sized steps. I've met him, nice guy. He paints Custodes here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dm8J-kaezWM
6b. Don't use your tiniest brushes for painting armor, cloth, or flags, you'll be there all bloody day. A medium-sized brush can do a lot.
6c. Paint the inner parts of models then work your way out. Ex: paint a guy's pants and shirt, then his skin, then his armor, then the cloak over the armor, then his sword and shield, etc. If you start doing outer parts first you'll have a lot of messes to clean up as your brushes go into deeper detail.
6d. Thin your paints with some water, watch the Warhammer TV videos and Duncan will show you this over and over and over.
6e. Practice colors and washes on bits of sprue before you toss them. That's also a good way to try new primers, here in Northern Virginia we go from 95F with swamplike humidity to below freezing so I use some bits of sprue to test the air with a rattle can before I spray all my models. If it doesn't go on smooth I don't spray that day (I sprayed about 1500 pts of Orks one day and they all came out like sandpaper because it was too humid).
6f. You can get a lot of bare plastic starter set models for cheap on eBay to practice painting before doing your actual models.
6g. Enjoy the hobby, it's great.

Dude First of all i love you seriously, thank you.
And i have a lot of random DND models I had gotten from a garage sale/christmas that I've been practicing on. And Thank you mate.

If you don't want shiny gold, one method I use on my Custodes is airbrush Vallejo Glorious Gold over the whole thing, followed with GW brown wash, but you want to focus less on the recesses, and more of staining the whole thing. If you do it right it comes out as a lovely gold/brass tone.

Matte sprays like Krylon Matte Finish or Testors Dullcote also lessen shine. Usually these are applied after painting to seal the mini.