Health systems for game units

Some questions:

Does the flag show player control, or health?

Why does this mean you can't have multiple flags on a unit? Or do you mean you can only have one flag pole on each unit? How about:

1.) Multiple flags on one flag-pole: Have one flag show player icon, while the one below it is color-coded to show health (like green/yellow/red).
2.) Have flag shape be an indicator of something: Rectangular/rectangular with triangular "bite" out of it/triangular.

Using just the color and shape indicatiors above you could show 9 states for a unit. If you added a fourth varient to each (black flag, rounded-end flag) you could show 16. Add white flags, and you can show 20 states, and so on. And that's per flag. If you have an upper and lower flag on a single pole, with just the basic three varients of color and shape you could show 81 distinct combinations of states.

Just a question, but have you made a mock-up of any of these pieces? At 1 inch square, for example, there's room for quite a bit. Two inch squares would ahve four times the surface area on top. If a 1" cube can have one flag, a 2" cube should be able to support four. I'm not saying you need to go the multiple-flag route, just that you might find a solution if you actually attempt to make these pieces. The potential for finding a solution directly is far higher if you have a piece in your hand.

Is this a minatures wargame, or something? A 2' square cube is pretty big.

In any case, I think that a modular solution is the way to go, unless you want 40 varieties of flag, each with a seperate digit, which would be stupid. Perhaps you could have the flags work like sleeves on the flagpole, allowing you to put up to three ribbon-banners on each pole. Each ribbon would have from one to five spots or squares. The bottom banner would represent units of 10 health. The middle would show units of 5 health, while the top would show individual units of health. Each flag ribbon would be identical, so able to be used on any unit, so you reuse them often.

If you color flags with one spot red, two or three spots yellow, and four or five spots green, you'd be able to tell your entire force's condition at a glance.

Just use different colors of flag to show ownership, and different numbers on them to show hit points remaining.

Red flag with the number 5 - Owned by Red Player, 5 hit points.
Blue flag with the number 3 - Owned by Blue Player, 3 hit points.

If ownership changes, just swap it for a different colored flag with the same number.

Or am I missing something?

Or ditch the "hit point" system entirely and just have each unit be hrder to destroy, but once a certain threshold is reached, it's removed. Simpler, more elegant, less work.

How is having 40 different flags, each with a different digit on them, any easier or better than having tokens siting on the table next to the unit? Answer: It's a lot more work, and that's all.

When the system in your head doesn't match the restrictions of real-world play, it's not worth it.

Ever play 'Monopoly'? They've got this ingenious device that separates the money of different values from eachother. That way, when you need a 1, or a 5, or a 50, you don't have to sort through a pile of bills. I'd imagine you'd use something similar to keep flags of different values separate.

Personally, I hate, Hate, HATE, having to move a bunch of damage counters across the table when I move a unit. So, a stack of tokens next to my units would seem like more work.

Also, one flag with a number on it seems like a much better system than a flagpole with three stacked flags, with a pentary/trinary counting system.

(The top of the pole makes a handle!)

or get beads that don't slide by themselves, and can "stick" into place. Then you'd never need to remove the falg, and the beads would remain on the pole. Beads on top are points of health. Beads slid to the bottom are lost".

Of course, this still doesn't given you much room for range. Only about 5 beads would fit on a pole...