I would make the general comment that, apart from trying to jump on (very rare) seats as soon as they are released (330/353 days ahead) the other things to look at are:
1. Partner awards (eg: EK to europe, or CX,or even MH)
2. A simple consideration of when demand will be highest and then reversing that logic. For example, there's no reason on earth while an airline would offer reward seats, specially in premium cabins, in periods of high demand - school holidays, special event times, peak seasons(eg: Northern Summer), school holidays, easter etc.
On the other hand thinking when people would least likely be demanding seats on certain routes or destinations may be helpful, and one can always look to build trips from various sources. For example, it's possibly going to be easier to find award seats on days people least want to travel, like Christmas Day, or to destinations out of season.
Other tricks can involve positioning to places in Asia and buying cheap(er) revenue tickets, or even awards, or gettin as close as one can to the final destnations and then getting low fare or other options (so, for example, an award to IST or MAD, then train/LCC up to CDG/FRA etc).
And finally, it can always help to have access to points in multiple alliances.. for example one may not be able to get a QF award seat to Asia, but one may be able to get J or F on TG more easily using a Star Alliance miles program (like UA, or LifeMiles), or using VA points for EY or SQ.
Often pieces of the piuzzle can be brought together with some creative thinking and ability to mix and match.