lightwave is a high-end 3D app, it's just it isn't an industry standard like 3D studio max or maya!! a cheaper still alternative to lightwave, is cinema 4d, or shade8, all of these are modeling apps!! vue and bryce are landscape generating apps, they are really only for landscapes, or importing props made with a modeling app!!! boolean modeling is(as far as i know) only making models using primatives e.g. cube,sphere,cone and cylinder. in vue you might use a cube and "cut-away" at it with a sphere, so you end up with cube with a hole.so you can make things but not great things, and it would be a lot of work to get a "not great thing". with a modeling app(lightwave) you would make polygon,nurb,or spline based props, you would then need to texture them!! lots of work, and modeling apps are very tricky to get used to, very long learning curve!! don't expect to of made anything worth looking at within 6 months, but with vue you will of learnt a huge chunk of the program within 6 months, you just won't of made any models with it, hope that clears it up a bit, they are completely different kinds of software. 

An idea for you if you have a grand to spend is get cinema4d(about 400 dollers i think) or get a free modeling app like wings or blender,get poser5 (if you don't have poser yet either) for free at moment from content paradise , and download a trial version of vue or get the free version or Bryce5 from Daz, that way you can have a go at all the different types of software, for freeee!!! then decide which one you like, and which direction you want to go in, lots of people have bought lightwave or vue and never used them, it's a lot of money to spend if you end up not liking how long it takes to make things and end up not using it!!