I've been mulling over distinctive unit markings for purposes of clear delineation of which models are with which unit. So, I've been researching the British Tank Pennants of WW2 as well as combining those ideas with the Codex Astartes... seemed appropriate at the time.
Seniority
Infantry
I stole this idea from pictures I saw of the Federal Army during the Civil War that used colors and numbers inside the epaulets to denote units (branch of service and regiments I believe). I'm going to paint the flat area inside the epaulet's "disc" (right above the fringe).
When looking down at the Model from behind:
Company and Regiment Markings
Like many Imperial Guardsmen, Brodians are trained to follow the orders of the highest ranking officer present (in the event their normal chain-of-command is broken). Because of this, there's really no need to denote Company and Regiment as each trooper is well aware of who his Company and Regimental officers are. Thus on an individual trooper level, there is no Company insignia. Regimental membership is done with distinctive buttons and rank pips; however, that's too small for us to see at typical 40K scale.
However, Platoon Standards do carry indication of the parent Company. While every Platoon Standard is more or less unique, the "outer" color (the predominant one touching the flagpole) will be the seniority of the parent Company and the "inner" color will be the Platoon color. Somewhere on the flag will also likely be a black letter denoting the Company (A, B, etc.). Platoon Standards from companies that are part of prestigious Regiments may also have a heraldic emblem signifying Regimental identity.
Veterans
Every company has a squad of seasoned combat veterans. These are denoted by the double white pips (one on each shoulder) and often the fringe itself used for the epaulet is white. Collectively they are known in slang as the "Lilywhites."
Vehicle Pennants
Vehicles (Sentinels and flying craft excluded) fly triangular pennants (usually from the aerials). The color on the top half denotes the Squadron or Battery. The color on the bottom half denotes the vehicle's individual seniority within the unit. If the colors are difficult to distinguish or are the same, a thin black line separates the colors.
When vehicles are destroyed, rendered inoperable, or the crew is transferred for whatever reason... the pennant travels with the crew. Battle honors are affixed to the pennant.
Pennants on Sentinels and flying craft are rendered as semi-triangular "shields" (the left side when looking at it is the same as the "top" of a streaming pennant, right side is the "bottom").
Command
Pennants of command vehicles feature diagonal black bars. One bar is for squadron/battery/troop leaders. Two bars denote a company level command. Rarely seen are three bars denoting Regimental level command and so forth.
Vehicle numbers signify nothing other than that particular vehicle's numbering within its Regiment. Each Regiment has its own numbering system.
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