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So I'm trying to put together a Vigilus army (Thousand Sons/Tzeentch daemons) for a campaign, especially for an apoc battle that's being held at my local GW store next month. My first big problem is that, besides a very brief training game, I've never played 40k proper and I want to be good enough to be able to participate in Vigilus. I do have a Khorne daemon army that I could practice with, but that leads into my next dilemma, which is trying to set up the army with units, battalions, and commanders. I have designated three warlords for my Khorne army, but beyond that, organizing the army is very much confusing me, and that is affecting how I approach my Vigilus army. Then there is the issue of painting and constructing an army. I can paint up my special character quickly, but for my Rubric Marines, if I just put them together without painting them, painting them later might be very difficult as their poses make it very difficult to paint certain details since the weapons cover up areas like the chest. I'm torn between putting them together now for the tournament or painting them first (and I am very much a beginner when it comes to painting, and I want to make my models look at least somewhat good). Taken together, all of this is leading to a good deal of stress

My army as it stands is:

1 Lord of Change
1 Exalted Sorcerer (using a mildly converted Gaunt Summoner; this is my special character)
3 Heralds (2 with burning chariots and one on foot)
11 Rubric Marines (9 with warp bolters, one with a soulreaper cannon, and an aspiring sorcerer with empty palm/no weapon but staff)
12 Pink Horrors
17 Blue Horrors
10 Brimstone Horrors (20 technically, since each model is double)
1 Daemon Prince of Tzeentch
3 Screamers (optional for me)
1 Exalted Flamer
20 Tzaangors (all with AOS-style blades)
20 Kairic Acolytes (to be used as cultists)
3 Enlightened
3 Skyfires
1 Shaman
I'm also thinking of getting a Chaos Rhino/converted Imperial Rhino to transport most of my Rubric Marines, and possibly a Forgefiend, though the Forgefiend is unlikely, at least in time for the Vigilus campaign.

So there's amy dilemma. I don't really have any experience playing the game, I'm torn about painting, and I'm having issues with properly organizing my army. I really need some advice on how to move forward. Should I just skip Vigilus or should I try for it? I don't want to be a drag on the apoc battle and end up not having any fun for any of the Vigilus battles due to these issues, but I also really want to participate

My advioce would be to focus on big picture. Play so you get experience with aiming to winn games that come later on.

If you are new, do not play apocalypse. It will be very confusing.

If you play, your greatest risk is probably being too slow. I'd say play some quick squad-on-squad skirmishes against a friend and try to get a couple of bigger games in if you can. It sounds like you're at risk of learning the game during an event, which sounds terrible for all involved.

Other than that, get list building guidance from the appropriate Tactica here on Dakka. Keep your units simple, big, and in multiples if possible to streamline your turns. If you have time, type up a cheat sheet with statlines, weapon profiles, special rules, stratagems, and psychics... double benefit here is that you learn in the act of creating it and have a quick reference to keep your nose out of your codex during the game.

Good luck!

Thanks for all of the advice. I think for now I'll hold off on the apoc battle, though I might do a regular Vigilus battle. I also think that I'll be focusing on a Tzeentch daemon/Tzaangor/acolyte army and leave out the Rubric Marines for now. I do like the idea of having a cheat sheet.

Read your codex and the main rulebook, your local store might have a copy you can look through if you don't own one yourself, otherwise someone in your community might let you borrow theirs while they are playing a game, so you can read while they play. Look up the designers' commentary and the Errata/FAQ for the main rulebook and your codex on the Warhammer Community site. Create a list using Battlescribe. Miniwargaming did a series on how to play the game, you might want to look that up, but I strongly recommend you read the rulebook and the designer's commentary, most communities are rife with people who have very little knowledge of the rules and they might confuse you more than help you with their version of the "rules".