Hey Sean,
First rule with figures, as I'm sure you and others here know, is invest in quality brushes. I have used Series 7 by Winsor & Newton for years and I feel they are the best. (just my opinion) Sizes 2, 1, 0, and 00. Expensive, yes. Worth it? Absolutely. However, and I'm not joking here, there has been an issue with importing them to the US for some time now due to animal rights or something like that, something silly. It's holding up bringing them in to art stores and the like. You can google it if you care.
DaVinci brushes are okay. I tried them recently just to experiment, and the said issue above, and I thought they did okay but not close to the W&N's. Again, this is just my opinion.
The dry time with acrylics can be a pro or a con. If one brand dries too fast for you, perhaps try another, although I don't think that will make a huge difference. Personally, I use Vallejo for my figures. I use a lot of water for glazes, and constantly wipe off excess paint on a paper towel. Glazes are like thin, transparent layers of color; Your goal is to build up paint slowly on the face of the figure. You don't want your figures to look like they're wearing make-up, so this technique is helpful to prevent that. It also works well for beards or 5 o'clock shadow.
Two great books to help with acrylics are: Modeling Fallschirmjager Figures by Jaume Ortiz Forns and Modelling Waffen SS Figures by Calvin Tan. Jaume uses the glaze or thin layer technique and Calvin uses a black prime coat, followed by a dry brush in white, followed by several glazes or thin layers of paint, too. Even if you're not painting German figures, the techniques and style you discover in these books can be adapted across a range of figures.
Hope this helps. Also, AK Interactive has just released a line of paints, a book, and filters specifically for figures, as reviewed here just the other day. I may try the filter set myself.
-Felix
