Currently painting up the game pieces, so figured I'd share some thoughts.
If you haven't painted, know that space ship vehicles are MUCH easier to paint than human figures. If you're cheap, go to your local hobby crafts store or even Walmart. At Walmart, you can get an acrylic set, and a brush assortment (make sure there's at least one detailed brush, like a spotter). At a hobby store, you can get metallic paints of the four spaceship colors, and optionally gold, silver, and blue.
When painting, apply thin layers of paint. Don't glop it on. More serious hobby painters will use a primer (I used clear gesso) and thinners, but these are just space ships, so, at most, thin your paint with a little water. Add a brushful of water at a time, until the paint doesn't clump on the paintbrush.
After your first layer, or basecoat, you'll want to add details. Color in details with CONTRASTING colors, a strong "dark" one against a weak "light" one . For example, you can use red with the orange and white spaceships, white with the green and red ones, blue with the white shipetc. Stick to two or three colors on a miniature.
For non-beginner painters, I noticed that brown ink (eg. QuickShade ink) made the ships look less toy-like.
You only have four miniatures to paint! And if you make a "mistake" with your color scheme, play a game and see if anyone else notices. If not, you didn't make a mistake!