ESXi - connect one VM to another without vswitch?

[Shad]

I want to prototype something that involves connecting machines together directly without using a switch. Can I do that with the networking in ESXi 5.1?

Thanks

 

[Shad]

Haven't got enough NICs to try it with passthrough unfortunately. A private switch between two would work but I wanted to prototype a ring network with 3 hosts.