anyone have any good scenarios to play out? something from the classic map ideally where the mid-late game was still open to a number of possibilities, but the conclusion was still heavily biased (And perhaps some obvious alliances would be useful for the rest of the game)

An example would be a 13 center russia and a few smaller players who have a shot at opposing him but if they don't work together they're liable to end with a solo after a very short amount of time (i think this kind of scenario suits face-to-face play. When you can't get a full 7 players and you do not have a full 12 hours to play.)

totally because I like the background of this game, but how about here: http://webdiplomacy.net/map.php?gameID=52031&turn=11&mapType=large

so google image search for 'mid game dipomacy' pulled out these maps, which may or may not be helpful:
http://boardgamereviews.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/diplomacy-autumn-pre-build-1902.jpg

http://i1198.photobucket.com/albums/aa448/mditus1/Diplomacy%20TT%20Game%201%20Pictures/FallRetreats1904Game1.jpg

http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj65/justplainpavek/JPP01-F1908M.jpg

http://i702.photobucket.com/albums/ww27/malcolio/Diplomacy/DiplomacyMapF1906.png

i like malcolio's F1906 map.

Turkey - 6
Austria - 9
Russia - 1
Italy - 6
France - 12

knowing how it ended would be handy but not necessary.
It looks like Austria and Turkey have a draw goal, France should be aiming to solo, and russia and italy would both be happy to survive...

The location of units in France is interesting, like some of Italy's units would be tough to dislodge and would heavily weaken France.

and maybe not knowing who wins makes it more interesting, since we choose how it ends.

for italy spain and portugal are vulnerable, but the army in munich is a pretty big threat...

unless it forms part of the front line with france... actually if you give italy a 'survive' target then they have no reason to even try to stop france, and that makes it F12 + I6 = 18 centers, an outnumbered opposition... hmm

Found another decent map:
http://spacers.lowtech.org/wiki/lib/exe/fetch.php/games_group/diplomacy_spring1907.png?cache=

as for the other game, it was England not France who had 12 supply centers (found the game link) and it ended 2 years later in a draw (with Russia being eliminated):
http://i702.photobucket.com/albums/ww27/malcolio/Diplomacy/08Winter2-1.png

The only other map I wouldn't mind doing is this one:
http://webdiplomacy.net/board.php?gameID=66898#gamePanel

This was a very exciting early game, however the game was unfortunatly drawn due to an extended pause. Unlike the other ones shown, all 5 remaining players have equal footing and it would be a close late game.

aww, i much prefer france as the country.... big difference for what is a home center, though the english units do make a bit more sense...

also civility is an interesting position... i'm not sure i can read that other map - it is a germany-russian alliance against a I-T with france suffering greatly, right?

yeah, that last map has really confusing colours. Civility was a really interesting position, and we all regretted having to draw,

actually, this would be amazing aswell: http://webdiplomacy.net/map.php?gameID=4033&turn=4

because it is the map used for the front page (mostly because it had lots of colours around the edges) and also because it is very open to what could happen... (on of the best games i've ever played, thanks to the rest of the people in it...)