New ipad. Forgot passcode, no I Cloud

I can’t get into the iPad as I have forgotten the passcode.

I planned to link new iPad to a different Apple ID so I unlinked from my I Cloud.

solutions tried;

Ive tried ‘find your devices’ to try and ‘erase settings’ via the laptop- this shows the device but unable to erase as it’s not online.

nothing happened when linked iPad to laptop - not shown in I Tunes

Any ideas please?