The only problem with two people being partners is that it makes diplomacy confusing and makes it harder to trust one person's word. If anything I'd think that it would operate as a disadvantage due to these factors making it harder to convince people to help you, though it also would be an advantage in that you could stab and claim it was the other person. That being said that's kind of annoying so I'd prefer (if LN is willing) for people to play by themselves.
Also Agape given we have 7 already could you post up the possible games (probably the strongest support would be for vanilla, just Milan variant, and Milan+Winter 1900+NaF Supply Center) and have people vote on them? It doesn't look like anyone is unwilling to play any given variant (except I'd probably prefer not playing a completely vanilla game), so you can pick players while the players also finalize the game type. This way the game could be started in a few days (honestly given we have seven I'd support starting ASAP, like tonight or tomorrow, if people could swing it) without there being any further delays.
For the record I'm rescinding support for the alliances game and
voting for the Milan+Winter 1900+NaF Supply Center variant. I feel that the alliance game structure would be interesting but would need a more dedicated playerbase to work properly, and throwing too many new ideas at once in would make it less accessible. I think that all of these variant changes are relatively minor in that they don't alter game balance a ton when taken in sum, it's just that they offer a LOT more options and interesting/unique gameplay, particularly for Italy (who, let's face it, has pretty horrible options in a typical game). I think that every country would be highly competitive and that results would be based much more highly on being able to come up with new strategies if we did something that's (probably) never been done before but also isn't too far from the vanilla game mode. Also, 35 SCs in combination with no draw votes allowed would guarantee that there is a sole winner, and so would allow people to fully play to win without feeling like stabbing is morally wrong.
Oh and
Gale Wing Srock get your ass in this game.