This mod Increases both the strength of the guard and civil war armors as well as the soldiers stats to make them both more difficult and more useful.

-minimum level for guards/soldiers is now set to level 20

-add several combat perks to increase their combat effectiveness

-imperial heavy armor is now equal to steel plate

-imperial light armor, stormcloak armor and guard armor is equal to elven

-stormcloak officer armor is equal to scale

-edited the inventories of the beginning NPCs so that the higher quality armors won't be given to you right at the start. You will recieve inferior versions of the armors.(vanilla stats)

-edited the crafting system to better balance with the stat changes.

-imperial swords are now equal to skyforged steel and stormcloaks now use skyforged steel.

** I suggest these mods so that the armor's visuals better match their modified stats**

Town and Armor Retexture by Gulch (armor in picture)
http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/2819//?

Perfect Legionnaire by Ali Bengali
http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/6085//?