The point of the flags is to prevent an attacker from just pulling back and doing nothing, waiting for the defender to come onto their favorable terrain.  Without the flags it would be very easy to cheese the combat system.

I'm not saying the flags are a great solution, but they (or something that serves the same purpose) is needed in order to prevent combat from breaking down.

I agree that the flags are not ideally placed most of the time.  Maybe the solution is to allow the defender to place the flag somewhere within their deployment zone?

Bridger wrote:

The point of the flags is to prevent an attacker from just pulling back and doing nothing, waiting for the defender to come onto their favorable terrain.

Ah, I understand now. But perhaps a gross damage per round threshold to prevent a stalemate would be preferable - as an attacker, hanging back with a large archer force should be just as acceptable, if you've maneuverered yourself into terrain that allows it. If neither team wishes to move to attack, it could default to a draw?

The flag is the only thing preventing combat from being two armies sitting at arm's length in the best terrain possible without moving. I could see having a bit more control over its placement as being desirable but eliminating it would be a big problem.