I mostly work with Photoshop (plus Inkscape for some vector work, and so on) to make battle-maps for tabletop use. Periodically I'll need an asset for a map and can't find a suitable one that I like. For example, I recently needed a statue of a succubus. Although I did eventually find one that worked okay, I'm still not terribly happy with it.

I've been thinking that it might not be a bad idea to get some kind of 3D modelling program so that I can build my own assets. Things like statues, weirdly shaped tables, pillars, perhaps the odd unholy altar or similar. But It's been years since I did anything with 3D, and that was mostly noodle around with POV-ray in the Windows 95/98 days. I know little about what's out there, or how to get started, or which programs would be best suited to my purposes.

Where should I start?