Does the same thing also happen if you use the 'old way' of placing overlays, i.e. by specifying the map coordinates?
von Marwitz
No, if you use the 'old way' of placing overlays, you will get this, which is what the OP wanted:
There are advantages to using the 'new way' (draggable overlays) and advantages to the 'old way' (specifying map coordinates when doing board selection, cropping, etc, with the board wizard at startup (or if you have selected "Pick New Boards for this Scenario" from the drop down menu when you click on the ASL icon on the toolbar once a game has been created)). If one doesn't work try the other.
Part of the problem for the OP is that he used a mix of old and new. Steps 1,2, 4, and 5 and old and step 3 in his list is new.
Before you ask, no we can't combine the old and the new into one way to place overlays. They each do their stuff using very different parts of VASL/VASSAL.