sorry forgot to mention this too, fm's more than likely your lm minstrel is not going to be in range of hitting a yellow or red so yelling out all yellow ect is useless. even on npc;s i will be around the back probably in the middle of a heal when i cant move. so if you get an fm expect a blue or green at then end because that will be us "squishys" who are unable to get into melee in time for anything else.

Lot's of good points already raised here, just going to go over a few of the important things (imo). Remember this is all just my opinion and how I play - also everything in the Ettens is very situational and most fights are different, so doing one thing in a fight may result in your death in the next fight. Anyway here's a quick list of important things (again, all imo):

-Positioning This is number 1 for me - I like to mix this up to keep people guessing. If you stand still right at the back you're easy warg meat. However in a pretty static battle, standing between the Hunters and the Melee can work very well, especially if the raid is alert and looking after you. If the fight is ebbing and flowing and the lines are moving about, it's generally best to stay with the RAT - that's going to keep you in range of the melee's so you can heal and also hopefully keep most of the attention away from you as you move about with the group and make yourself a difficult target to pick off. Unless you need to fully spam heal, heal and move is a good tactic, throw a heal out, move with the RAT, heal again and so on...Stops you from becoming an easy target.

-Getting Help I think a lot of Minstrel's expect proetection all the time - which you might say is fair enough, however it's a two way street. We need to make sure we tell the raid where we are and when we're targetted etc, as people tend to be focused on killing the enemy rather than protecting the healer's - I think this is a big thing we need to change, which brings me to the next point..

-Protection OK, this might be controversial but I think as a group we are too focused on RAT. When the fight is going good, and the Creeps are scattering or it's a clear win for the Freeps, then fine, everyone on RAT and kill the creeps. However, there have been a few fights recently where myself or another Minstrel is getting pounded and everyone is sticking with the RAT to get the kill - I'd shout out that I'm stunned and getting ganked but everyone would just stick to RAT - personally I think protecting the healers should come ahead of RAT - We should always be marked and people should be keeping an eye on where we are and who is around us. What do other people think about that? I think group awareness is a big area for improvement. As important as RAT is, we shouldn't be so singularly focused on it all the time.

-Playing your role Obviously we're a healer first and foremost, I don't really bother with WS personally unless I'm running in a small group. Keep people alive, save your combat rez for other mini's or at least cap's/RAT. I pretty much just focus on healing really as I feel that's my best contribution to to the group. (I think some other classes need to realise what their best contribution to the group is - Guardians in OP are not giving their best to the group imo)

And just a note on play dead, when used at the right time it's awesome - It will either get the Creep's off you for the duration and then you can pop up and get heals OR they will wait by you to kill you when the timer runs out, which is also fine in my book as it takes those creeps out of the fight for a good while and helps the raid a lot.

Overall I think we all (not just Minstrels) need to play in a much less selfish way - everything we do should be for the good of the raid and not our own individual good. If I die but we win the fight then I'm happy. That's the attitude we all need to take in my opinion

There's a big group heal (Forget it's name ) that I have never really used in PvE because it pulls aggro from everywhere and kills me, basically.
How would that work in the Ettens?
I can't see how creep players would be affected in the same way, so is it safer to use on the moors to save healing people individually, or will it still pull all the NPC's from miles around (eg if we're in a keep or a camp?).

It's fine to use if you want - but it has other issues in the moors: power cost, casting time and small heal amount

You'll find most of the time you are healing someone because they are getting smacked around by a load of creeps, in which case you'll be spamming BC on them just to keep them alive.

It has it's places - if most of the group is down just 500-1k morale and you've plenty of power and no-one is in desperate need or getting the shit smacked out of them , then go ahead and use it to keep things ticking over but it's not really a great pvp skill either tbh.

from my experiance if you have ws on when you start your heal will be at 50%.

A minstrel in the Ettens(Tales of a fat dwarf)

As some people on our servers asked me to tell my tactics,
Here we go,

Start up:
I always make sure I have:
20 fear pots (anti silence)
20 decease pots (Anti vitality buff)
20 poison pots (anti spider poisons)
20 wound pots (anti warg/black arrow)

What are the Buffs I use in the ettens?

Buffs:

I always make sure that when it is off cool down my group is buffed with Anthem of the free people(with gives a big + in in combat Morale regen)
This really makes a difference in the fights and makes it possible to relax a bit more in healing,

I prefer to have all champions in my team, Why? Us minstrels have a buff that gives +10% Melee damage and that is one of the other things that really is good on the Champs
I always make sure that my fellows have this buff as well,(a lot of minstrels don’t use this one)

So with these 2 basic buffs in mind I start to think about my positioning,

Positions:

What is a good position for a minstrel?
Keep in mind that a minstrel is mainly the primary target of the enemy,
Barrels in keeps/Trees/Rocks/Corners are your best friends always make sure you stand out of sight of the black arrows/war leaders,
Your heals cant go around corners so if some one is getting to much hits tell them to stay in line of sight or ask them to move a bit back(Communication is the key)
Always ask the Lore master in the group for permanent anti-stun, this is important as you are prime target to the wargs,

Under attack what now???:
As we all know our class is most beloved by creeps and we are main target,
What I do:
I never scream that I am under attack, why not?? If you are under attack all freeps are under attack, this means or the group is charging or we are all attacking RAT,
As I am mostly in the back I cannot expect the entire raid to turn around and kill the poor warg who is attacking me, what I do I make sure I get out of the stun and I run though our raid,
What I do then is ask one of the champions(Communication is the key) to blow a horn near me so all wargs are off,
Very important: My dwarf feet aint standing still at that point, as soon as I am wargie free I will stand and do my job,
What I noticed in the ettens lately is that minstrels are complaining as soon as they have 2 wargs on them, make sure you have a champ near you who can protect you  that is the key,

Ahh no damn the entire creep raid is charging what now???
At this point I wish myself all the best luck in the game 
What I usually do is get around a corner or behind a tree and run through the entire raid(freep raid) tell the leader I have all the agro,
Then check my HP bar if it is dropping really fast I use my massive heal(if it is not on cd) then I use my endurance of stone(hell yeah I am a dwarf)
If then still my fellow minstrels have problems with healing I faith death and stay on the ground until the creeps are gone,
I really like this when a entire raid is following me around in the freep raid

My opinion about the shield wall of a Guardian on a minstel: Useless,(in ettens)
Sorry my fellow guardian!!! Why is this useless is my opinion? You have to stand still for this, witch is really really bad!, they just nuke you through the shieldwall…
Guardian death and Minstrel death, in my opinion the guardian can better protect the lore master in stead of the minstrel, other minstrels should be able to keep the targeted minstrel alive,
We got our skills!!!! 

Talking about skills,
What skill does fat Pinti uses:

Song of the hopefull heart,
Always near a keep I lay down a hope full heart, just to make sure we have no hope problems

Gift of the hammerhand
I try to use it much as possible on new targets of the creeps when I see that they change targets, why I do that? Most minstrels don’t look at the targets of the creeps, as I need to sing a tier 3 ballad song I have to make 1 attack what I do is I try to select the rat of the enemy,
As soon as I see they change target, I am selecting their target and make sure he gets the gift, this really works great,

Rally
I try to save this one for my fellow minstrels,

Ressing:
I always try to keep as much of the people up as possible, again here positioning is very important, make sure you are out of sight of the black arrows so they cannot interrupt you, most annoying is that you have to be out of combat for this, very important part here is that the annoying NPC’s have to be gone(NPC means in combat) again here Communication is the key, tell one of the champs to change to the NPC i.s.o the RAT (And no the leader will not be mad at you if you suggest this)
Also make sure that not every minstrel is on ressing duty as the raid wont get heals anymore, but you can sort this out with your fellow minstrels,

Fear:
This is one of the skills that I Love in the ettens!!!!!!
What does it do??
It removes the entire skill bar of the enemy ;-) witch mean no arrows from the black arrows and no heals from the warleaders,
I must admit I usually use this skill when we are attacking and not in defending mode as I am busy healing at this point,

Warspeech:
I really love war speech, expecially when in war speech our piercing cry,
It stuns instantly,
As soon as we are under attack I switch it off,

Why does pinti not like hunter who use DF?
Off course this is a skill from you,
As soon as our people are under attack they are under attack aswell and guess what?? Then I heal the hunters aswell, then suddently in the middle of a heal you use DF, the creeps switch to a new target while I am still broadcasting heals to a person who is miles away  with the creeps killing a freep who is not getting heals,
Sorry but that is totally un expectable in my opinion 
But hey who is me?

Hope this helps a bit

A small addition from me from experience.

Still as Death is useless when retreating or when you're outside the main raid group. Creeps will happily camp around you and gank you after your time is up. Best use I find for it is if you find yourself getting ganked and can run into the sanctuary of the main pack.

From leading, briefly, a balled up group is far, far more effective than a spread out group. I've seen a freep raid go from verging on a wipe to rolling the creeps just by balling up. It also helps the minstrels avoid attention.

I just want every "new" minstrel aware of that in ettens. You will need to crossheal alot. You are not only responsable for your group. I know its a tough job but every minstrel has to keep The whole raid under controll. When creeps attack they attack us mor or less one by one. So it isnt enough with the person in that group to heal him. All the minstrels has to heal together.

Pay attention to persons " screaming" for heals and to what leaders says.

You are doing a great job all healers. I wouldnt want to change with you

I found that out very early on, Erlo
When you're in a full raid and fighting starts, it becomes a bit academic which group you're in anyway so I heal whoever needs a heal and is in range.
I do, however, keep my own group's stats bars nearest the middle of the screen so they're easier to keep an eye on, with all other stats bars towards the edge - I owe them that, at least! (Especially if the Raid leader is in your group ). And I also try to look out for the other minstrel's stats bars too.

If some-one screams "heal me", of course I willl try but :

a) I need to be able to SEE them as well as hear them so they need to be in range or try to get in range. In other words, take note of what's been said in other threads and don't go running off after creeps 'cos I sure as hell ain't gonna follow and leave the safety of the main raid!

b) Shouting "heal me" might not be enough for me to spot which of the 24 icons just spoke, even with the red indicator coming on briefly - Now if you shout "heal Fred" you stand more of a chance!

This is what I have learned so far in my first 3 trips to the Moors with Frontline!