Firstly carefully cut around the outer edge of the printed flag, with either sharp sissors or, better still, a sharp scalpel or craft knife. Then coat the reverse side of the flag with enough white glue, that the two halves will slide around each other while you position them around the staff. Once you are happy that the two flag halves are exactly aligned, pinch the flag firmly together and ensure that there is a snug fit against the flag staff. Now before the glue is completely dry wrap and curl the flag back and forth around a cocktail stick or similar until the desired dynamic shape of the flag is obtained. I personally prefer the flags to be dynamically flapping and blowing out from the staff ( so all my battles take place in gale conditions :-). Once dry the flag will be quite rigid and will hold its dynamic shape. If you are left with a white strip showing around the edges of the flag, fill in the edges using the tip of a suitably coloured felt marker or fine paint brush.

Pole cords can be created from a few stands of copper wire stripped from any suitable light electrical cable. Twist the strands together around a suitably sized pin secured to a board or whatever all the time pulling out the slack until a miniature rope effect is achieved. The quickest method of achieving this is to secure the unanchored ends of the wire strands in the chuck of a modellers drill. The cords can then be produced at the touch of a button. Tassels can be modelled by adding blobs of solder or glue to the finished cords and shaping them with a craft knife when dry. Paint the cords using a dark primer and then dry brush on the appropriate color. Scarves and cravats can be created from thin strips of suitably coloured paper or plain paper suitably painted.

Here's an email I received from Charles Rainbow:

Alan,

Iwould like to pass on a tip that I find helpful in mounting the flags. After coating with white glue, take a small piece of tin foil and drop it in between the two halves. This assists in shaping the flag to give it a better "flapping in the breeze look".