Lab OS Choices

I am new to the world of pen testing and am working on building a lab.
What operating systems and versions do you recommend for a good all
around lab. Windows of course is a big one, but do you go back to 98?
Being a beginner I would think having all the patches on XP or Vista
might make it difficult to learn. I would also think adding a secure
OS like openbsd would be a waste of time for a beginner to try to gain
access to. All advice is appreciated.

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