There's been a bug floating around with the banner locations, such as the Farmlands in the Walled Woods. Whenever the claim is disrupted by bandits (in my case, a small army of kobolds), after defeating them, the banner canNOT be reclaimed. I suspect this is a general bug in the system, but I've only seen it in the Outer Walled Woods farmland (thinking about it, it's the only location I know of, IC and OOC!).
I beleive this is a major bug, and I suspect this affects other areas as well. It'd be a good idea to check it.
Correction, the bug is in reclaiming terretory after a terretory claim expires, just had it happen now while there defending it. (Having defended it again from kobolds)
Edit: I forgot to mention who I had help from a player under the Chauntean banner who was a farmer and a good fighter, just to make sure I didn't make it sound like an all Helmite Guardianship defense
The area does get attacked by bandits? Awesome.
I put these on the backbench for now, I'll toy again with them in the near future. They really dont react like I wanted them to be!