Correct me if I'm wrong, you pretty much gave up on BlitzMax in favor of Ogre and C++.
Correct, and the reason I left BlitzMax was because Max3D which was promised never came. I had a choice - I could wait for Max3D or some other engine wrapper, or go straight to C++ and use whatever engine I wanted without having to bother with wrappers. I didn't give up on BlitzMax just because C++ has more features, I game up on BlitzMax because I was at a dead end, and I wasn't going to hang around a dead end for long. I prefer being productive (and yes, I am productive in C++, FlameDuck :) ).